
(lass 


.^^m 


^'/ 


Rook 


^x^P ^ C- 


^ 


PRESENTED BY 









n 



¥ 



if/ "hCA^y^l-^K^-- 



UNIVERSALIS! NOT OF GOD 



AN 

EXAMINATION 



SYSTEM OF UNIVERSALISM; 

ITS 

DOCTRINE, ARGUMENTS, AND FRUITS, 



WITH THE 



EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR, DURING A MINISTRY 
OF TWELVE YEARS. 



BY MATTHEW HALE SMITH. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

INSTITUTED IN THE YEAR 1825. 



Ot/y\^-' 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1347, bv 

O. H. KINGSBURY 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States tor me 

Southern District of New-York. 






ADVERTISEMENT 



'^ Universaltsm not of God" comprises 
the substance of the v/orks published by 
the Author upon Universalisnij condensed, 
re-arrangedj and in part re-written. To 
the Committee of the American Tract' So- 
ciety, the Author acknowledges his obliga- 
tion for valuable suggestions, which have 
enabled him to make the book vv^hat it is. 
It is now commended to the blessing of 

the God of Truth. 

M. H. S. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION Page 7 

CHAPTER n. 

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR 12 

CHAPTER m. 

DIFFICULTIES OF UNIVERSALISM. 

The System is New — Character of its Founders — Its Doc- 
trines Destructive — Constantly Changing — Allied to Athe- 
ism — The Face of the Bible against it — Character of Uni- 
versalist Societies — The Ministry of Universalism — It has 
no Sanctions 56 

CHAPTER IV. 

PROOFS AGAINST UNIVERSALISM. 

Summary of Arguments against Universalism — Preaching of 
John the Baptist — Preaching of Christ the Lord 92 

CHAPTER V. 

PROOFS AGAINST UNIVERSALISM (Continued.) 
History of the Rich man and Lazarus — Parable of the Tares 
of the Field — The Judgment of the Last Day — Texts which 
express or imply Conditions 106 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

ARGUMENTS EXAMINED. 

Twenty-two Principal Arguments of Universalists distinctly 
Considered Page 128 

CHAPTER Vn. 

FRUITS OF UNIVERSALISM. 

Universalism does not produce the Fruits of tlie Gospel — Its 
downward Progress, both in Doctrine and Practice — It tends 
to Infidelity — It removes all Restraint — Character of Uni- 
versalist Preaching — Universalism destitute of Benevolence 
— Testimony of Ministers who have renounced the Doctrine 
— Concessions of Universalists — The Doctrine leads to Su- 
icide — Contains the Elements of its own Dissolution — Uni- 
versalism in Europe 164 

CHAPTER Vm. 

UNIVERSALISM DISPROVED BY FUTURE AND ENDLESS 
PUNISHMENT. 

A Future State of Rewards and Punishments alone answers 
the Universal Faith of Man on this subject — Our own Sense 
of Justice demands it — Perfect Justice cannot be attained 
in this Life — Actions of Men Live after their Death — God's 
Judgments in respect to this Life refer to the Future — Pur- 
poses of Future Punishment- — All will be Judged — The 
Judgment will be Final — The Pimishment Endless . . 218 

CHAPTER IX. 

ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS IN RELATION TO UNIVERSAL^ 
ISTS AND UNIVERSALISM . . , • 247 



[INIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 



CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION. 



I HAVE thought that it would be appropriate 
to speak of my own experience upon the doc- 
trine of Universahsm, and to make mention 
of the mercy of God as displayed in my con- 
version from error to truth. If my soul has 
been transformed, and my heart renewed, God 
has done it. If my feet have been taken from 
the way of death, — if my work is changed 
from leading souls to ruin, to turning them 
into the path of life, — the glory belongs to 
God. And if I shall ever be of any service 
in the kingdom of God's dear Son, and shine 
at last with those who have turned many to 
righteousness, the Holy Ghost has been the 
agent by whom it has been effected. Why, 
then, should I not first turn and give the glory 
to God ? 



Vi CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER VI. 

ARGUMENTS EXAMINED. 

Twenty-two Principal Arguments of Universalists distinctly 
Considered Page 128 

CHAPTER Vn. 

FRUITS OF UNIVERSALISM. 

Universalism does not produce the Fruits of the Gospel — Its 
downward Progress, both in Doctrine and Practice — It tends 
to Infidelity — It removes all Restraint — Character of Uni- 
versalist Preaching — Universalism destitute of Benevolence 
— Testimony of Ministers who have renounced the Doctrine 
— Concessions of Universalists — The Doctrine leads to Su- 
icide — Contains the Elements of its own Dissolution — Uni- 
versalism in Europe 164 

CHAPTER Vm. 

UNIVERSALISM DISPROVED BY FUTURE AND ENDLESS 
PUNISHMENT. 

A Future State of Rewards and Punishments alone answers 
the Universal Faith of Man on this subject — Our own Sense 
of Justice demands it — Perfect Justice cannot be attained 
in this Life — Actions of Men Live after their Death — God's 
Judgments in respect to this Life refer to the Future — Pur- 
poses of Future Punishment — All will be Judged — The 
Judgment will be Final — The Punishment Endless . . 218 

CHAPTER IX. 

ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS IN RELATION TO UNIVERSAL- 
ISTS AND UNIVERSALISM . • 247 



[INIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 



CHAPTER I. 

IXTRODUCTIOM. 



I HAVE thought that it would be appropriate 
to speak of my own experience upon the doc- 
trine of Universahsnij and to make mention 
of the mercy of God as displayed in my con- 
version from error to truth. If my soul has 
been transformed, and my heart renewed, God 
has done it. If my feet have been taken from 
the way of death, — if my work is changed 
from leading souls to ruin, to turning them 
into the path of life, — the glory belongs to 
God. And if I shall ever be of any service 
in the kingdom of God's dear Son, and shine 
at last with those who have turned many to 
righteousness, the Holy Ghost has been the 
agent by whom it has been effected. Why, 
then, should I not first turn and give the glory 
to God ? 



8 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

I speak of Universalism as one familiar 
with the subject. Its influence I felt in 
childhood : then learned I its doctrines. Its 
arguments are as familiar to me as house- 
hold words. Its moral tendency I know too 
well ; its effect upon man, and the best good 
of man, I have repeatedly seen. Its results 
are uniform ; one tendency distinguishes it ; 
it bears one kind of fruit; it everywhere 
is peculiar for one sort of influence, and is 
ever characterized by the same eff'ects. De- 
scribe its triumphs in one place, and you 
describe them in all. Exhibit its tendency 
in one case, and you have a picture of the 
system everywhere. 

My acquaintance with Universalism ena- 
bles me to speak advisedly in relation to its 
practical tendency. An experience of years 
w^ith the system and its friends ; a settlement 
over one of the largest congregations of Uni- 
versalists in the country, and an extensive 
acquaintance with the preachers of the sys- 
tem in all parts of the land, fit me to bear an 
intelligent testimony as to that system, and 
to state what I know and have seen. 

My doubts touching the truth of Univer- 
salism were not of my own seeking. They 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. y 

ca,me imbiddeiij and were unwelcome. I had 
no desire to leave Universalism : it was bound 
up with my earliest associations. I had re- 
solved in life to defend it, and die in its em- 
brace. I cannot describe my wretchedness 
when I found myself surrounded with doubts, 
and my system opposed by difficulties, that I 
could not remove. Against my wish, I was 
compelled to listen to those difficulties and 
objections. And when I sat down to remove 
them, I arose from my work convinced that 
the attempt had only added to the number 
and increased my labor. 

Conflicts before unknoAvn assailed me. Dis- 
trust, fear, and perplexity, multiplied on each 
side, and well nigh overcame me ; and when 
I finally abandoned Universalism, the conflict 
cost me almost my life. Nor was it for want 
of determination, that these difficulties were 
not removed, and my mind set forever at rest 
on my former faith. But no relief or comfort 
could I gain until my refuge of lies was aban- 
doned, and I, as a penitent, sought, and, as I 
trust, obtained, mercy at the foot of the cross 
of Christ. 

In this book I shall, with Divine assist- 
ance, lay before you this whole process. I 



10 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 

hope to do this in a kind spirit. It has been 
my prayer to my Saviour, that nothing may 
appear in this work which shall exhibit any 
spirit save that which he will own and bless. 
While I speak plainly, I wish to speak kindly. 
The only severity that will appear will be the 
severity of truth, and that I desire to ^^ speak 
in love." I have no animosities to revenge, 
no passion to gratify. I bear Universalists 
no hatred. I leave behind me many persons 
whom I would most gladly take away from a 
system to which they and I have been too 
long, and too fondly attached ; and which I 
believe to be a ruinous error, a fatal delusion. 
They are walking in that way which seems 
right to them, the end of which is death. I 
believe the whole tendency of Universalism 
to be baleful in the extreme to the best inter- 
ests of our race, and that its ministry is en- 
gaged in the ruin of souls, and everywhere is 
stained with their blood. I speak from the 
character which my own labors have borne 
in that cause, and from my knowledge of the 
results of Universalism. 

I shall meet Universalism as it is ; give the 
result of my own sad experience upon this 
subject, and say a few plain things in a plain 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOB. 11 

way. I shall prove that Universalism has no 
claim upon any rational mind ; set forth the 
v/ithering power of error ; lift a warning voice, 
and bid all, not yet ensnared, to shmi a delu- 
sion, which, Avith a siren song, and with as- 
sm^ance of safety, leads down to everlasting 
despair all who trust its teaching. 

In setting forth the reasons which have 
compelled me to abandon the system of Uni- 
versalism, and leave that ministry to which I 
have devoted twelve years of the best part 
of my life, I simply respond to the call of the 
defenders of that system, and perform a work 
which they have professed themselves earn- 
estly desirous to have performed. They in- 
vite, nay, they challenge inquiry. They are 
confident that Universalism is opposed be- 
cause it is not miderstood ; they complain 
that their expositions of Scripture are mmo- 
ticed ; that their arguments in defence of 
Universalism are either not examined at all, 
or lightly passed over ; that doctrines are 
attributed to them which they have never 
received, and which they disavow ; and that 
those who speak of the moral tendency of 
Universalism, know not of what they affirm. 



12 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

CHAPTER II. 

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR. 
EARLY LIFE. 

My home was not a religious one ; the fear 
of God was not there. In my father's house 
there was no family altar ; no voice of prayer 
was there heard, no reading of the Bible as 
an act of worship. I never enjoyed the bene- 
fit of Sabbath school instruction ; no friend 
told me of God ; no one instructed me to lisp 
his name, or fear his law. I have no recol- 
lection of having ever passed a night in my 
life, till I was more than twenty years of age, 
in a house in which there was family prayer, 
or the reading of the Bible as an act of reli- 
gious worship. 

My earliest recollections as to religion are 
identified with Universalism. My first im- 
pressions upon the subject are very distinct 
this hour. I thought the Gospel was de- 
signed simply to teach that men would not be 
damned ; that, however men died, God would 
make all equally happy at death ; that the 
Bible, besides this, taught little else that was 
important or interesting j and, on the whole, 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD* 13 

was rather a dull book. The Sabbath I was 
taught to regard as a day of rest from toil, but 
not from sport ; and no one who had influ- 
ence upon my childhood, interposed any re- 
straint from my doing my own pleasure upon 
the holy Sabbath. When I was six years of 
age, my father embraced the doctrine of Uni- 
versalism, and became a preacher of the sys- 
tem. Nearly all that I heard upon the subject 
of religion, was favorable to Universalism ; 
nearly all my relatives were of that faith ; and 
almost all my acquaintances held the same 
sentiments. Yery early I imbibed a hatred 
toward all systems that difiered from this. 
So soon were the seeds of error planted in 
my heart, — seeds watered by impure counsels, 
nourished by evil examples. 

FIRST SERIOUS IMPRESSIONS. 

When I arrived at the age of sixteen years, 
my attention was turned to the subject of per- 
sonal religion. A seriousness prevailed among 
many of my associates, the influence of which 
1 felt. Religion seemed to me a great con- 
cern. I thought that my life was not what 
it should be, and that, to be respected, I must 
change my associates. I knew that my heart 



14 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

was not right in the sight of God, and that to 
die as I then was, would expose me to the 
wrath of God. My feelings were enlisted 
and changed. I read the Bible with plea- 
sure, and, in some small meetings, urged my 
fellow men to repentance. 

Though my feelings were excited upon 
the theme of religion, my understanding was 
not informed. I had no settled religious opin- 
ions. I was then thrown into the company 
of Universalists, and their system was com- 
mended to my attention. I was invited and 
persuaded to attend their meetings, and was 
assured that Universalism and personal piety 
could harmonize, and that one would be the 
better Christian, the more devoted man, for 
receiving that faith. I found the advocates 
of Universalism frequently using terms which 
others employed in comiection with religious 
truth ; and, presuming them to be sincere, I 
fomid myself growing daily in favor with Uni- 
versalism. I examined the arguments by 
which it was supported ; became familiar 
with the exposition given to difficult parts of 
the Bible : and as my early associations fa- 
vored the claims of Universalism, I adopted 
the system when in my seventeenth year. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 15 

Believing that Universaiism could do for man 
what religion proposed to do, I resolved to 
enter its ministry. I made vigorous prepara- 
tions for the public advocacy of my faith ; 
and my first sermon was preached in Med- 
vv^ay, Massachusetts, in the month of August, 
1828 ; at which time I was seventeen years 
and ten months old. 

FIRST SETTLEMENT. 

In the month of December, 1829, 1 removed 
to Vermont, to take charge of two Universal- 
ist societies. Havmg the most unboimded 
confidence in my system, I had no doubt 
that it would work a great moral change in 
men, and soon cause the wilderness to blossom 
as the rose. I used every exertion to spread 
Universaiism ; and preached with all the ar- 
dor of youth, and the fervor of sincerity. Uni- 
versaiism was the only system that I ever 
embraced till my present views were adopted. 
By Universalists I was ordauied; and never 
was my name enrolled among any other sect 
5.S a preacher, till my comiections were formed 
with Evangelical Christians in January, 1841. 

At the very outset, I was mortified at the 
results of my ministry, and pained with what 



16 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

I savv^ in those ^Yho were the loudest in their 
professions of regard for ^- the blessed doc- 
trine/' as Universalism was usually called. 
I saw none of that reform which I expect- 
ed would attend my preaching, though none 
needed it more than my personal friends : — ^no 
change for the better, although I saw many 
changes for the worse. Indeed, the practical 
tendencies of my preaching were not what I 
had expected to see. They were not what I 
saw attending the preaching of the Gospel in 
the very vicinity in which I labored. I was 
praised in the bar-rooms, and my health drank 
in almost every tavern in the comity. On 
the Sabbath, my congregations, most of them, 
came dhect from the tavern to meeting, and 
went as directly back to the tavern after the 
meeting. The intermission was usually passed 
in discussing the merits of the sermon, not 
always m the most decorous terms ; and in 
drinkmg my health, with their best wishes 
for my successful vmdication of the salvation 
of all men. 

The opposers of Universalism, who were 
made sad at my success, who trembled for the 
rising generation, and prayed that such senti- 
ments might not prevail, I considered to be a 



U^1VERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 17 

bigoted and illiberal class of men. Yet I was 
compelled to allovvr that they embraced the 
sober, the mtelligentj the religious portion of 
the commimity ; — that class of self-sacrificing 
men who upheld the sacred altar, kept the 
Sabbath holy, and feared God. 

Those who attended upon my ministry 
were called the liberal party : yet few were 
so bigoted. Most of them were profane men ; 
a large portion were open disbelievers in the 
inspiration of the Bible ; and nearly all had 
been noted for their habits of Sabbath viola- 
tion, passing the day in busmess or in plea- 
sure. In all things save an attendance upon 
my preaching, they remained professedly, and 
really, the same. Men came together, but 
not to be made better. They came together 
to have their hands made strong in sm. The 
end of preaching, in their opinion, w^as to 
prove that there was no hell, and that all men 
would be saved. 

^Vhen occasionally I urged upon my hear- 
ers the duties of life, and lightly reproved 
their vices, I v/as told that such preaching 
was decidedly illiberal, and very much like 
the Orthodox, as all Evangelical Christians 
are by them called. Nor were profaneness, 



18 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

gambling, Sabbath-breaking, or infidelity, re- 
garded as in any respect inconsistent with a 
profession of Universalism. One of the officers 
of a Universalist society was in the habit of 
going into adjoining towns to hear me preach ; 
and I have known him repeatedly to pass nearly 
the whole of Saturday night in gambling with 
young men at a tavern, — young men whom 
he had invited to accompany him to meeting. 
I was very much troubled by these consid- 
erations. My labors were not attended with 
the good results which I desired, and which 
1 knew ought to follow a system of truth. 
One uniform tendency accompanied Univer- 
salism in all places. One class of men hailed 
the doctrine, and wished the preacher abun- 
dant success. Whenever called to preach in a 
place which I had never visited, I knew what 
the character of my congregation would be be- 
fore I saw it. Often have I been complimented 
with oaths ; heard the scoifer and the vile 
hope the good work would go on ; and been 
wished success in language too foul and offen- 
sive to be repeated. When I saw a man in 
my congregation of an intelligent appearance, 
I presumed him to be an infidel, and never in 
this respect was I mistaken. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 19 

I ever had but one opinion of the influ- 
ence of true rehgion upon the heart and life. 
That my faith did not reform men. as did the 
preaching of Christ and the apostles, was cer- 
tain. How, then, could my faith be correct, 
and yet be followed by such fruits ? For what 
pui'pose ^vas a system, marked by such ten- 
dencies as mine, sent from heaven ? Often, 
in the solitude of my study, such questions, 
searching and painful, would arise. A stilly 
small voice would seem to inquire, •• Does 
good attend your labors ? Are m_en made 
better by them ? Do profaneness. Sabbath- 
breaking, mtemperance, licentiousness, fly at 
the approach of your faith, and cease where it 
spreads ? Do religious fear, godliness, holi- 
ness, distinguish its reception among men ? 
What good are you accomplishing ? Who is 
ma,de happier or better by your ministry ?'' 
These reflections troubled me, and made me 
unhappy. But they did not shake m3" faith 
in my system. I thought that to be good, 
but men to be bad. I consoled nwself with 
the reflection, that the fault was in the pro- 
fessors of Universaiism, and not in the sys- 
tem. 



20 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

REMOVAL TO HARTFORD , CONN. 

In the year 1832, I accepted an invitation 
to remove to Hartford, Connecticut, and take 
charge of the Universahst society in that place. 
My labors were successful, so far as securing 
a large congregation v/as concerned. For me 
my society professed a great regard ; and in 
pecuniary matters, they did all that I could 
desire. But FxO good moral results attended 
m}?' ministry. I expected, and fondly hoped, 
to see in the state of Connecticut men of an- 
other class espouse my cause, and fruits spring 
from my labors different from those I saw in 
Vermont. The society was much older. Uni- 
versalism was planted in that city in 1788, by 
Elhanan Winchester, one of the founders of 
the sect. It had age. It had enjoyed a seed 
time ; the harvest was ripe, and it was my work 
to shout it home. But the moral aspect of 
things in Connecticut Avas worse than in Yer- 
mont. The leading men in the society were 
avowed infidels, and of such the society had 
ever been composed. Its founders, those who 
built the meeting-house, and who, from the 
beginning of the society's existence, had sus- 
tained it, were open infidels. 



UN1VERSALIS3I NOT OF GOD. 21 

A very large number of the active men in 
the society under my charge, avowed to me 
their disbelief in the inspiration of the Bible. 
A rcajority of my committee, the clerk of the 
society, with seven-eighths of the pew-hold- 
ers, were of the same opinion. My warmest 
personal friends, those the most regular in 
their attendance on preaching, the most libe- 
ral in their support of Universalism, women 
as well as men, were frank enough to tell me, 
in my parochial visits, that they had no more 
faith in the Bible than they had in the Koran. 
Some few, perhaps, read the Bible to find 
proof-texts of Universalism : but, for the most 
part, few opened it at all ; and in no case that 
I ever knew, was it read in the family as an 
act of religious duty. 

They supported Universalism, they said, 
because they thought that superstition, as 
they used to call religion, should be checked ; 
that something must be done to keep their 
wives and children from being Orthodox : — 
the world, they thought, was not yet quite pre- 
pared for a full advocacy of truth ; and Univer- 
salism came so near their idea of truth, that it 
was the best thing the world at present would 
bear. Hence they supported its ministry. 



22 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

But the absence of good moral results was 
not the only evil with which I was called to 
contend. I not only turned no sinner from 
the error of his ways ; called back no soul 
from the road of death ; but I saw positive 
evils attending my labors. Many who at- 
tended my ministry were grossly immoral, 
and more were waxing worse and worse. 

On Sabbath evenings my church was usual- 
ly crowded with young men. Many of these 
would leave the bar-rooms and dram-shops in 
the vicinity of the meeting-house, attend my 
lecture, and then retire again, at its close, to 
those places of infamy, and there pass nearly 
the whole night. They would drink my 
health, and praise me and my sermons in the 
awful words of profaneness and blasphemy. 

My mind was not at ease. I knew those 
young men were made bold in sin, and strong 
in evil ways, by the doctrines they heard 
from my lips. I was oppressed beyond mea- 
sure. I was not satisfied with the tendency 
of my faith. I did not wish to do my fellow- 
men an injury ; still I knew that many could 
justly accuse me as being the author of their 
ruin. 

I was a young man, zealous, and full of 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 23 

hope — ^my religious opinions were based upon 
the reason of man, and the authority of those 
who originated them. Of the doctrines and 
character of the rehgious world, I knew 
nothing ; but with the character of those to 
whom I ministered I was soon made acquaint- 
ed. The sight appalled me. Surrounded by 
a religious population, I was mortified at the 
result of my labors. When I attended a meet- 
ing of other sects I was convinced that among 
them was a good spirit, such as I found not 
among my associates. I was more dissatis- 
fied with^tny system. Troubled with anxious 
doubts, pained with the moral results of my 
faith, worn down by anxiety and incessant 
labor, I was reduced by sickness and brought 
near the grave. 

When I had in some measure recovered my 
health, I felt that I could not remain longer 
in Hartford. I resigned my trust, and resolved 
to seek a new field of labor. My faith in the 
ultimate salvation of all men was unchanged ; 
but upon many subjects my feelings and 
views were essentially different. I Avas com- 
pelled to reject ultra-Universalism, or that 
form of Universalism which limits all punish- 
ment to this life. I had preached more against 



24 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

the faith of other sects, than against the sins 
of my own society, i determined to be more 
practical ; to preach more upon the duties of 
life, and less upon the certainty of the salva- 
tion of all men. 

SETTLEMENT AT SALEM, MASS. 

My last settlement as a Universalist preacher 
was in Salem, Massachusetts. A short season 
of labor in that city convinced me that Uni- 
versalism was the same everywhere. My 
congregation was one of the largest in Salem. 
The practical results of my ministry were the 
same as they had been in all other places. 

I changed my style of preaching. I said 
little upon the subject of Universal salvation. 
I spoke on one or two occasions in favor of 
limited future punishment ; but in a practical 
point of view the results were the same. As 
salvation to all was certain, men had little 
fear of punishment, even if it ran over into 
the next life. 

The more I reflected upon the system of 
Universalism, the more perplexed I became. 
I knew that my influence was not exerted for 
the good of my race. I labored hard, preached 
often, but felt that I was not advancing the 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 25 

good of man. Of the evil practical tendency 
of my faith, I had no doubt — I could have 
none. I was not as confident as I had been 
of its truth, nor as much so as I wished to be. 
Many arguments, and those the most popular 
among Universalists, I knew to be sophistical. 
Many texts of Scripture urged in defence of 
Universalism, I was convinced had no refer- 
ence to the salvation of all men: and many 
parts of the Bible so plainly taught a diiierent 
doctrine, that I was distressed beyond mea- 
sure. I could find no peace except when I 
banished the whole subject from my mind, 
and by a great effort turned my attention to 
something else. I wrote and preached often 
under the influence of doubts, that, at times, 
almost overwhelmed me. I once resolved to 
settle the case with my own mind, and put it 
at rest. I wrote a sermon in which I arrayed 
all that I could think of in defence of Univer- 
salism. The arguments from reason, nature, 
and the Bible, in favor of the salvation of all 
men, I presented in their strongest form. I 
wrote it under the influence of the most in- 
tense excitement, the most tormenting doubts, 
and to remove those doubts if possible. But 
the effort was not successful to my own mind. 



26 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 

I preached the sermon but once. My people 
requested it for the press : / gave it to the 
"flames. 

My situation was a most trying and painful 
one. I was determined to chng to Univer- 
saHsm. Yet I could not with all my heart 
defend it, nor remove from my mind the ob- 
jections that rose against it. When I sought 
relief from my ministerial associates, I found 
them often deeper in difficulty than I was my- 
self As they v/ould relate their experience, 
and unfold what they had seen of the moral 
results of Universalism, the effect was most 
startling upon tcly own mmd. As I heard 
men, who had been years in the mmistry, ex- 
press their difficulty in defending Universal- 
ism ; call up objections to it more appalling 
than any I had ever heard from the lips of an 
opposer, and expose the sophistry of many 
popular arguments used in its defence, I was 
convinced, that if the world knew the objec- 
tions w^ith Avhich the defenders of Universal- 
ism had to contend, no stronger proof of its 
falsehood would be needed. 

To succeed at all, I was compelled to dis- 
miss the subject of man's destiny altogether 
from my sermons, and say nothing in respect 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 27 

to the final salvation of all men, I could 
neither deny nor defend the doctrine. And I 
tr ought, if I should dwell upon the practical 
duties of life, and preach upon moral subjects, 
I might relieve m^^self from trouble upon this 
point. I Tvholly changed m^^ st^de of preach- 
ing, and attempted to mstruct men m relation 
to the duties which belong to this life. 

This change in the subjects of m}^ sermons 
was soon noticed, and complained of. Some 
desired a little more doctrme. Others thought 
the youth ought to be hidoctrmated, and that 
the mmister ought to do it. From various 
sources, I would hear that strangers who en- 
tered my chmxh could not tell what my views 
were : and my society considered it a reproach 
that men could hear a Universalist preach, and 
not know whether or not he believed that all 
men would be saved. Vvliile others, out of a 
professed regard to my health and ease, de- 
sired me to preach some of my old sermons — 
the design being to obtain the doctrine which 
those sermons were known to contam. 

My mmd was far from being at rest. My 
difficulties increased, and the evidence of 
my faith seemed to grow more and more 
faint. Most 2:ladlv would I have dismissed 



28 UNIVEilSALIS3I NOT OF GOD. 

this whole matter from my mind, but I could 
not. Though I was not now an advocate of 
Universalism — though for som.e months I had 
ceased to teach that all would be saved — still 
I was known as a Universalist preacher. I 
was settled over a Universalist congregation, 
and my influence was exerted in favor of their 
known sentiments. I had ceased to respect 
the system, or to feel much attachment to its 
advocates. I now felt that, as an honest man, 
I could not represent a system which was at 
war with the best interests of my race ; though 
I had not given up my faith in the final sal- 
vation of all men. After much anxiety and 
deliberation, I sent to my congregation a com- 
munication, stating that I could not serve them, 
unless I could do so without being considered 
a Universalist. 

Upon the receipt of this letter, the com- 
mittee to whom it was sent called upon mxC, 
to induce me to take it back. They were 
surprised at the letter ; the step they thought 
was a hasty one — one that I should always 
regret. They were certain, that to remove 
from the society of which I was pastor, and 
throw myself and family upon the world, was 
committing a suicidal act. They assured me 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 29 

that, if I would take back the letter, and con- 
tinue my labors, they would pledge me their 
honor that no mortal should ever know it had 
been written. I told them that I was pre- 
])arcd for almost anything ; but I could not eat 
the bread of dishonesty. The sentiments ex- 
pressed in my letter, I could not change. By 
them I must abide. My resignation followed 
the reception of that letter, and my connection 
with Universalism ceased from that hour. 

REVIEW OF UNIVERSALIS3I. 

I now resolved to review the whole subject. 
I collected the threatenings of the Bible, with 
all the objections that I knew to exist against 
Universalism, and placed them together. I 
then selected all the texts of Scripture, and 
the arguments used in defence of Universal- 
ism ; and determined to examine them, to be 
faithful to myself, and abide by the result. 1 
felt in some measure the responsibility that 
rested upon me, and the avv^ful hazard I was 
running in encouraging the wicked to hope 
for life, though they turn not from their wicked 
way. I -went to this work with a trembling, 
and, I trust, a prayerful spirit. 

I arose from this investigation, firmly per- 



30 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

suaded that Universalism was supported nei- 
ther by reason nor revelation ; that it was as 
false in theory as it was destructive in prac- 
tice. But, ^^'What is truth?'' '^What shall 
I preach ?" were questions more easily put 
than solved. For the system of doctrine usu- 
ally denominated Orthodox, I had the most 
perfect contempt. Language does not enablfe- 
me to express the abhorrence in Avhich I held 
it. If I ever detested anything, it was the 
doctrines of the cross. The clergy who de- 
fended them, I thought to be narrow-minded, 
bigoted, and, on many important subjects, very 
ignorant. The people who professed those 
doctrines, I regarded as a poor, infatuated class 
of men, duped and blinded by their leaders, 
and as having little comfort in this world, and 
little hope of any in the world to come. I 
had no inclination to search for truth among 
such a people ; and no desire to embrace it, 
if convinced that they held it. 

CONVICTION OF SIN. 

Up to this time, the investigation had been 
pureljr an intellectual one. It had been an 
examination of the question, whether Univer- 
salism were true or not. With me, religion 



UJSIVER^ALISM NOT OF GOD. 31 

had been a mere theory, I had a system to 
defend, and must defend it.. But now, my 
attention was tmiied to the subject of personal 
piet}' — to the question, whether I had met 
with that change, and formed that character, 
which the Bible declared to be essential to 
salvation. I felt that there was a reality in 
religion, which I had never known, a power 
that I had never enjoyed. . I longed for some- 
thing that would take hold of my own heart, 
and allow me to speak to the hearts of my 
fellow-men. 

I was now, in a measure, afloat. I had no 
settled opinions upon religion. On what side 
soever I tm'ned, I foimd difficulties : and on all 
sides, the horizon was black indeed. The 
S3'stem I had long cherished, and which was 
bound to my heart by the ties of early instruc- 
tion and constant association, had passed from 
my confidence. My warmest friends had, in 
many cases, become my bitterest foes ; though 
they had not yet learned to what extent I had 
given up my faith in Universalism. I had no 
religious acquaintance, to whom I could un- 
burden my mind. My sufferings were great — 
my anguish more exquisite than language can 
paint. I did not know where to go, or to 



32 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

whom I could speak ; and it seemed to me, 
literally, that ^' no man cared for my soul." I 
would have given all I possessed, to have 
found some friend to whom I could have un- 
bosomed myself; who would have said some 
kind thing, or bid me hope in God. But I did 
not dare trust even my own family. Though 
it seemed to me that every man I met read 
my feelings in my countenance, I kept them 
to myself till I was carried almost into my 
grave. I was in very feeble health ; my as-^ 
sociations all were changed ; I was unsettled 
in faith, and felt like a stranger in a strange 
land. 

MEDICAL ADVICE. 

My frame, never vigorous, could not sustain 
this heavy load. My long anxiety in respect 
to the moral results of my faith, my painful 
investigation, the separation from my society, 
the scandal, hatred, and ill-will I was called 
to meet from those whom I had long served 
according to my ability, my anxious cares, my 
mental trouble, the fear that I was not a 
Christian — all impaired my health to a start- 
ling degree. A complaint, which, from my 
childhood, has been the bane of my existence, 



UNITERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 33 

threatened to return. I T\-as admonished that 
it was time to seek medical advice. 

I could not answer the questions of my 
physician without a full disclosm^e of my 
feelings. I had borne my anguish alone^ with 
none to help me. For some time, I debated 
in m^^ own mind the question, whether I 
ought to confide in my plwsician or not. I 
decided that it was my duty so to do, I told 
him all my feelings ; how wretched I had 
been, and how afiiicted I then was ; how 
much the results of my public labors dis- 
tressed me ; how dark the future seemed to 
be : and hovr unsettled, how unspeakably 
wretched I was. I knew not what to do, nor 
where to look for relief. Life seemed to me 
a burden, and I would gladly welcome the 
grave. My physician was touched with my 
distress, and pitied my case. Though not a 
professor of religion, he respected it, and wept 
with me. It was the first s^'mxpathy I had 
received ; and cold water to a thirsty soul was 
never more grateful, than was the knovdedge 
of the fact, that some one could feel an inter- 
est in my welfare, and wish me a happy de- 
liverance from all my Avoes. He urged me 
to seek assistance from some religious person ; 

Usirtr. 3 



34 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

and not to bear my state of mind alone, as I 
was incurring a great risk in so doing. 

CORRESPONDENCE WITH REV. DR. HAWES. 

I felt that it was my duty to comply with 
he advice given. But I was not willing to 
commit myself by seeking sympathy or in- 
struction from those near me, who were com- 
petent to the task. With the Rev. Dr. Hawes, 
of Hartford, Connecticut, I had some acquaint- 
ance, growing out of my residence in that 
city. I had confidence in him as a man and 
a Christian ; and I resolved to write to him. 
I did it Avith a trembling spirit, and with great 
misgiving as to the probable reception my 
letter would meet. With much prayer and 
many tears I wrote and mailed the following 
letter : 

" Salem, AprH 21, 1840. 
^^ Rev. Dr. Hawes, 

'^ Dear Sir : — I have, after serious and 
prayerful deliberation, resolved to address to 
you this epistle. As its contents are known • 
to none but my Maker and yourself, I will 
ask you to hold in confiaeuce its sentiments. 
My personal respect for you, and the circum- 
stances that occurred when I was in Connec- 



UNITERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 35 

ticiit. are the onl)^ apology I offer to you for 
my present freedom. The period of my resi- 
dence m Hartford was to me a very gloomy 
one. My labors were not attended with such 
results as I expected or desired. Surrounded 
by a religious population. I was mortified and 
grieved at the contrast. In the silence of my 
study, and in the hushed watches of the night, 
questions would arise that I could not answer. 
Worn down by anxiety and incessant toil, 
my health failed, and a complaint, which long 
has been, and is even now, the bane of my 
existence, obtained the mastery ; and in a mo- 
ment of delirium, I revealed what was passing 
m my mind. The Rev. Mr. Fitch informed 
me of my mterview both with yom^self and 
him ; and the revelations of that solemn mo- 
mxcnt were true. From that time to the pre- 
sent I liEive been unhapp3^ 

Though my faith in the final restitution 
of all things was not shaken, I was confident 
that ultra-XJmvevsBlism. was not from God, 
and that its preaching tended to injury. I 
changed my style of preaching, and became 
more practical, not always to the satisfaction 
of my people. Since my residence in Salem, 
my labors have been all that I could desire, 



36 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

save in this — that men have not been turned 
to the service of God, from Satan. But I 
have never been satisfied. Agitated, anxious, 
doubting, miserable ; preaching in the face of 
evidence I could neither gainsay nor witli- 
stand : not daring to express a doubt, nor to 
seek counsel ; and feeling that the insane re- 
treat, or the grave, would soon receive me, 
if my mental conflict continued — I signified 
to my society that, as I had no sympathy 
with Universalists, I could not serve them, 
unless they wished my services with that 
understanding. 

^' My committee labored with me long and 
ardently, to have me recall the letter, saying, 
they would consider it as not vrritten : but if 
the matter came before the society, it would 
not retain me an hour. The result has been 
a separation from my society : and many, who, 
a week or two ago, would have plucked out 
their eyes, almost, and given them to me, are 
now my determined foes. About fifty fami- 
lies desire me to preach to them. But, if J 
bear not the name of Universalist, they will 
expect me to preach that all will be saved. 

'' My physician, a member of the ' Taber- 
nacle Society,' the only man to whom I have 



universalis:^! not of god. 37 

breathed a Avord on this subject, having ad- 
vised me to take counsel from some one in 
whom I could confide, I have thus spoken 
freely to 3"ou. Now, m}' dear sir, Vv'hat is 
duty? I know the wrong. But how can 3 
know the right, unless some man guide me ? 
O that I could knoAv the Ava}' ! Most cheer- 
fully would I walk in the path of dut}^. But 
these doubts, this rending anxiety, of years' 
continuance, have di'iven m^e well nigh to 
despair. 

•• For the stand I have thus taken I have 
made great sacrifices ; and I am ready to make 
more, if needful. 

^' If you think it Vv^orthy of your time and 
attention, please write me soon. I shall wait 
yom^ ansAver with deep solicitude. May it be 
a word in due season ! 

'' I am, reverend sir, with sentiments of 
great respect, 

^' Your obedient servant, 

'' M. Ralb Smith." 

I had scarcely mailed this letter and re- 
turned to my residence, before I regretted 
having sent it. A thousand suggestions, temp 
tations, fears, and resolutions, occupied my 



38 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

mind. They ended in a determination to 
take the letter from the post-office. I visited 
the office, and requested the privilege of with 
drawing the letter. I was told that it was 
too late. It was on its way to Hartford. 
With the deepest anxiety, I awaited the re- 
ply ; and my agitation and trembling I can- 
not describe when I took from the office the 
following response. 

*•' Hartford, April 24, 1840. 

^^ My Dear Sir^ — Your letter, received this 
morning, has been read with deep emotion. 
I thank you for the confidence you repose in 
me ; and the prayer has already been more 
than once breathed to Heaven, that the good 
Spirit of the Lord, who, I doubt not, is deal- 
ing with you in mercy, may guide you into 
the right way, and give you peace in believ- 
ing. There is, my friend, a way oi peace : it 
is the way of cordial reconciliation to God 
through Jesus Christ ; of love to his character 
and service, produced v/ithin us by the Holy 
Spirit, renewing the heart and sealing us heirs 
of heaven. You appear to me to be sincerely 
'feeling ' after this way, and if you truly seek 
direction from above, you will, I trust, ere 



UNIVERSAHSM NOT OF GOD. 39 

long find itj and walk in it with firm step and 
bright hope. May God grant you this mercy ! 
'• I scarcely know to what point to direct 
my remarks. You surely do not expect me 
to enter into any discussion of the subject 
respecting which we have held opposite sen- 
timents. Your views on that subject are not 
settled ; mine are ; and should you finally 
come to where I trust the Lord is leading you, 
present difficulties respecting futiue retribu- 
tion, would, I have no doubt, pass away, and 
your mind would be at rest on that subject 
of deep and awful interest. At least, you 
would be able to say, ^ Even so, Father, for 
so it seemeth good in thy sight.' Your readi- 
ness to endure trials for what you deem the 
truth, gives me pleasing evidence that your 
faith, if not now, will ere long be right on all 
essential points. What I feel the most soli- 
citous about, is, that you keep your conscience 
void of offence. On this point you have been, 
and will be, severely tried. The Lord enable 
you to stand firm ! If former friends desert 
you, or ^become foes,' other friends will rise 
up in their place ; and, what is more, you will 
have a friend in God, who will never forsake 
you. 



40 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

'^ If you cannot preach Universalism through 
and through with perfect confidence of its truth 
and fitness to turnmen from Satan unto God^ 
then have no connection with it. If it is an 
error — as I of course beUeve it to be — it is 
certainly a great and dangerous one ; and in 
your present state of mind, you cannot say or 
do anything which shall seem to uphold it, 
without doing violence to conscience, and ex- 
posing yourself to be left of the Holy Spirit, 
who, I doubt not, is waking up your mind to 
inquiry respecting the true way of salvation. 
I say this in reference to the ^ families who 
(you say) desire you to preach to them, though 
not ujider the name of Universalist, yet as an 
advocate of the doctrine that all will be saved.' 
I should fear the result of such an experiment. 
Better be silent, than preach a Gospel which 
in your heart you do not know to be true. 

^^Is there not a deeper question than 
whether all will be saved, which is now press- 
ing on yom- mind for decision, viz. Have you 
been born again, born of the Spirit ? In other 
words, are you a Christian in such a sense as 
the Bible declares essential to our entering 
into life ? The agitation, anxiety, and doubts, 
which so harass your mind, will never pass 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 41 

away till this great point is settled. My pen 
so poorly expresses what I want to say, that 
[ have hardly any patience in using it. I wish 
I could see you, and talk over all this great 
subject. But as I am denied the pleasure, 
may I recommend you to visit Professor Stuart 
of Andover ? He will enter into your feelings 
at once, and I know of no Christian friend to 
whom I could so readily direct you for coun- 
sel. You must not brood over your present 
state of mind alone. You need Christian sym- 
pathy, and must have it. In the mean time, 
rest assured that you have a friend in me who 
will be happy to afford you any aid in my 
power. Most truly yours, 

^a. Hawes.'' 

A letter so full of Christian sympathy I did 
not expect, and, I know not why, I was un- 
manned for a season, and unfitted for any 
duty. As soon as my feelings subsided, I 
resolved to be a Christian, if God would give 
me grace, to live in his service, and die in his 
cause. 

But peace came not in an hour. A deep 
probing of my own soul took place. My sins 
were set in order before me ; I knew that I 



42 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

must perish, and perish most justly, unless 
help came from the cross. Against great light 
I had sinned, and long and wilfully resisted 
the truth. I had employed my strength in 
strengthening the hands of the wicked, and 
peopling the world of despair with immortal 
souls. What right had I to expect mercy? 
what claim upon the grace of God? I was 
encompassed with awful fears. My days were 
wretched — ^my nights were passed in anguish 
that drove sleep from my pillow. I was aw- 
fully tempted to leave this world unbidden, 
but I dared not do it. I was certain, if I did, 
I should go to hell. My appetite was gone, 
my health declined ; my strength became 
weakness. O, the wormwood and the gall of 
those dark and trying moments ! How vivid 
they stand out upon my memory ! How har- 
rowing the recital ! I have barely firmness 
sufficient to pen these events. 

But God at last heard prayer, and gave me 
peace — peace more welcome to my lacerated 
heart, than was the sunlight to the inmates 
of the tempest-tossed ark, after their long 
sojourn upon the waste of waters. Gladness 
was in my soul, and praise upon my lip^. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 43 

MY WIFE INFORMED OF IMY CHANGE. 

I have already said, that, hi the time of my 
trial, I had not confided my feelings to any 
one. My family knew I was sick, but they 
were strangers to m^^ mental sufferings ; I did 
not dare trust any one. My wife from her 
youth up had been a Universalist. I knew 
she would pity, but could not relieve me ; and 
that a knowledge of my situation would make 
her unhappy, while it could be of no advan- 
tage to myself. But having made up my 
mind, and committed myself to my Saviour, 
I felt it to be my duty to give her that infor- 
mation myself, which she would soon learn 
from others. 

But another motive influenced me. I knew 
that my former friends would never forgive 
me for leaving Universalism. I expected bit- 
ter persecution and most intense hatred from 
those who professed to have the strongest re- 
gard for me before my change. It became a 
question full of painful interest, whether I 
sliould turn from all this scandal and reproach, 
aud find sympathy at my own hearthstone ,* 
or whether I should find a divided horae. For 
anght that I knew to the contrary, my com- 



44 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

panion was still fondly attached to Universal- 
ism. I expected she would be disappointed, 
grieved, and I knew not what else, when she 
learned that I was not only no Universalist, 
but had embraced the despised doctrines of 
the Orthodox faith. I prepared myself for 
whatever might occur, prayed for Avisdom and 
grace rightly to perform my duty, and related 
to my wife Avhat God had done for my soul. 
I could gather nothing during the narra- 
tion to inform me as to its effect upon her 
mind. My companion was deeply affected ; 
but whether from disappointment, or from 
sympathy with my sufferings, I could not tell 
I closed my recital, and paused for a reply. 
Judge of my astonishment, when she said, 
^' O, I am so thankful that you have been 
thus guided!" I could not trust m.y senses. 
I asked to hear the remark again ; the same 
sentence was repeated, and by it I Avas com- 
pletely^ overwhelmed. I learned, to my utter 
astonishment, that, for more than one year, 
Mrs. S. had been convinced that Universalism 
Vv'as an error, and had renounced it. Her faith 
in Universalism Vv^as first shaken by the con- 
duct and conversation of Universalist minis- 
ters, who visited at my house. She felt that 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 45 

a system could be neither true nor profitable, 
Avhich had such advocates. She had long 
held communion with her Saviour ; and, in 
her own closet, unaided by religious instruc- 
tion, and uncounselled by religious friends, 
sitting under a ministry of error, and with no 
guide but her Bible, she had been tiurned from 
the way of death, and, some months before 
my change, had found the Saviour to be pre- 
cious to her soul. 

From motives similar to those which had 
induced me to keep my change of views from 
her, she had kept her own from me. Could 
I do less than adore the grace and goodness 
of God ? Could any one marvel that our first 
family altar should be one of thanksgiving to 
that God who had opened our eyes, touched 
our hearts, and enabled us to begin together 
a new life in Christ ? 

DREADFUL CONDITION. 

My condition may be imagined, but it can- 
not be described. For a long time, I had been 
distressed with the evil moral tendency of the 
system of which I was the minister. For a 
long time, I was troubled with heart-rending 
doubts, that almost overwhelmed me. Often 



46 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

was I called to preach in the face of evidence 
which I could not gainsay. Then I became 
anxious about my own soul, and was fearful 
that the blood of souls would be required at 
my hands. My former friends had nearly all 
forsaken me, and had become my bitter foes. 
They left no means untried to ruin me, and 
render me an outcast among men, by taking 
away my reputation, which was all that my- 
self and family had to depend upon for bread. 
To the religious community I was compara- 
tively a stranger ; and it was supposed, that, 
if I were represented as unworthy of their 
confidence, I should be in a situation to do 
the cause of Universalism no harm. Not only 
was all manner of evil said of me, but my 
wife was more than once insulted in the 
streets, because I had changed my faith. 

This state of things imposed upon me a 
weight more than my frame could bear. My 
enemies had greatly affected the public mind ; 
and on every side I found distrust and sus- 
picion. I was poor in this world's goods. I 
had given up a salary sufficient for my wants^, 
and was now penniless, and had no means of 
support. My health was constantly declining. 
The future looked very dark. I was fearful 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OP GOD. 47 

that my mind would be overtm-ned, and my 
reason lost, if relief came not to me soon. 
Disease triumphed ; my mind was impaired, 
and m an hour of derangement I had Avan- 
dered from my home — wandered I knew not 
whither. Then followed weeks of suffering, 
bodily and mental, which it makes me sick 
at heart to recall. My physical strength was 
gone ; my mind was weak, vacillating, and 
easily moved ; my appetite was lost, and sleep 
fled from my pillow. My days were a bur- 
den ; my nights were seasons of anguish. 
Almost everything moved me — everythmg ex- 
cited me. My mind was filled vv^th gloom. 
Go back I could not ; to advance was im.pos- 
sible, until the darkness was dispelled by the 
light of truth. 

VISIT TO THE REV. DR. HAWES. 

I formed the resolution that I would for a 
season leave Salem, and in other scenes seek 
a restoration to health. I visited Hartford, 
Connecticut, and took up my residence in the 
family of Rev. Dr. Hawes. He received me 
as a son, and bade me welcome to his resi- 
dence, and to all the instruction which I 
needed. I remained foiu' weeks in his family, 



48 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

and pleasant hours those were that I passed 
in the house of that great and good man. My 
strength returned ; my heahh unproved to a 
very grea,t degree ; my mind became decided, 
and my heart fixed. It is but just to say, 
that, if I shall ever be of any service in the 
ministry of Jesus Christ, it will be very much 
owing to the friendly attentions, the judicious 
instructions, and the Christian sympathy, 
which I received from Dr. Hawes, his kind 
family, and his affectionate church. 

On the last Sabbath in the year 1840, both 
Mrs. Smith and myself united with the first 
church in New Haven, Connecticut. To me 
it was a solemn day. And may it not be re- 
garded as a peculiar providence, that the year 
above mentioned, so full of change, suffering, 
and anxiety, should be closed as it was ? At 
its close I could say — 

" Now rest, my long divided heart ; 

Fixed on this blissful centre, rest : 
With ashes who would grudge to part, 

When called on angels' food to feast ? 

" High Heaven, that heard the solemn vow. 
That vow renewed shall daily hear, 

Till in life's latest hour I bow, 

And bless, in death, the bond so dear." 



UNIYERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 49 

And not for one moment since, have I had 
any difficulty in relation to the great doctrines 
of the Gospel ; nor has a shadow of doubt 
passed over my mind in respect to any pro- 
minent truth embraced in the confessions of 
faith of the Evangelical churches. With my 
whole heart I embraced this system of truth ; 
with my whole heart I defend it. 

CONCLUSION. 

I have great reason to bless God for his 
mercy. In my most trying moments, I have 
trusted that he who bruised the reed would 
not break it. Long ago I had perished but 
for the goodness of God. But for this I had 
fainted. Against very great light I had sin- 
ned, and most richly deserved to perish. For 
a long time, I had had serious impressions. 
God's Spirit had often reproved me, and bade 
me turn. But long and wilfully I rebelled. 
I trifled with my doubts, resisted light, and 
hated instruction, till I merited the sentence, 
^' Let him alone ; he is a blind leader of the 
blind." But God in mercy followed me by 
his Spirit, and would not let me go. Against 
my firm resolves, he stripped my system from 
me : against my wish, he made me see its 



50 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

deformity, and abhor myself because of my 
comiection with it. When I hated the truth, 
and reviled the employments of those who 
fear God, he touched my heart, subdued my 
hatred, and caused me to love the truth, and all 
who love my Saviour's praise. He has also 
nerved my frame, strengthened my feeble 
system, and enabled me to stand in the place 
he has allotted to me. 

I enter now the house of God with new 
feelings. I find a new delight in the service 
of God, and in the place of prayer and praise. 
While in my delusion, I sought no light, de- 
sired no change of heart or opinion ; I now 
love God, and his people, and the doctrines I 
once despised, and the duties I once detested. 
Creation itself wears a lovelier garb, and Pro- 
vidence, no longer dark and frowning, sets 
forth the hand of my Father. I adore the 
grace that snatched me as a brand from the 
burning. I will magnify the Divine mercy, 
and speak often of his long-suffering. O, can 
any employment so become my tongue as that 
which calls me forth to tell what God has done 
for my soul ? It is the Lord's doing — the work 
is his. To his service be my days henceforth 
devoted. To his name be all the glory ! 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 51 

INFLUENCE OF MY MOTHER, 

I have said that nearly all my near relatives 
were Universalists. There is an exception to 
this remark ; and did I not notice it, I should 
do injustice to the best friend I ever had. 
My own mother w^as not a Universalist. She 
was a religious -woman. I have no remem- 
brance of her : for she died before my me- 
mory received any impressions of her words 
or looks.' I camiot recall anything in relation 
to her ; but those who knew her Vv^ell. speak 
of her piety and love for the things of God. I 
was her youngest child ; and she wished to 
live to train me up for God. and to guide me 
in the way of life. Very early in my life, I 
was made acquainted with her dying employ- 
ment. As death approached, she called for 
me, and took me in her arms, and pressed me 
to her bosom w^ith her dying embrace. Her 
last tears were shed for me : her last breath 
was spent in prayer to God for my welfare 
and my salvation. It was her dying petition 
that I might be saved from impiety and siu, 
and become a useful Christian. 

That death-bed, and the last moments of 
my mother, have never left my mind, since 



52 UNIVERSAL.ISM NOT OF GOD. 

first I was told of her dying hours. When 
far gone in error, this scene has spoken to me. 
When many have thought me hardened, past 
feehng and past redemption, this has made 
my mind tender, and sometimes ahnost over- 
whelmed me. It has spoken to me, Avhen 
mothers have come to me in relation to their 
sons — as mothers often have done — and have 
said, with streaming eyes, ^^ My son has be- 
come vicious and intemperate ; he is the com- 
panion of the dissolute and the abandoned ; 
he breaks the Sabbath, and scoffs at the name 
of God. And when I warn him — when I tell 
him of the judgment, and the retributions of 
eternity — he laughs my fears to scorn. He 
tells me that there is no judgment, that the 
Bible reveals no punishment for the futm'c 
state ,• and he appeals to you and to your 
preaching to sustain him." And when such 
persons have urged me to use my uifluence to 
save their sons from ruin, and turn them from 
the way of death, I have felt the force of 
such appeals. The voice of my mother 
seemed to blend with the touching eloquence 
of those who pleaded for their sons. Then 
have I regretted my employment ; and, half- 
convinced^ been almost tempted to throw up 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 53 

a calling that most manifestly strengthened 
the hands of the wicked. 

Next to my existence, and. the conversion 
of my soul, I would bless God for a praying 
mother. I could do no less than record this 
tribute to her memory, and leave on record 
the part she bore in my rescue from death. 
Let all take courage, who have the moulding 
of young minds — who make the first impres- 
sions upon an immortal soul. No matter how 
hard the soil — how long the seed lies in the 
ground. If it be good seed, sown in faith and 
prayer, it Vv^ll not fail. The hand that sowed 
may be palsied by death ; the eye that wept 
may be closed in its long sleep ; the voice that 
counselled may be hushed ; and the heart 
that prayed may cease to beat. Still the 
blessing will come. Your son, or brother, or 
friend, may be upon the ocean; he may fall 
into temptation and crime, or sit in the seat 
of the scorner. But upon the mast-head at 
midnight, in the haunt of sin, in the congre- 
gation of the impious, you will be remem- 
bered. If faithful to their souls, your sons 
and daughters will gather around your tomb, 
to bless you for what you have done for 
them. 



54 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD* 

The retrospect is terrible to me, beyond de- 
scription. I have wasted tAveh^e years of this 
short Hfe, and done much to lead men to per- 
dition. I have encouraged those already on 
the road to destruction, and have urged them 
on their perilous way. 

O, what a retrospect ! My pathway seems 
strewed Avith the wreck and ruin of souls ! 
My hands and my garments seem stained with 
the blood of my fellow-men. On every side, 
lost souls cry out, ^-But for you we might 
have been saved !'' O that I could recall the 
past ! O that I could wipe out the influence 
I have exerted, and make those twelve years 
a blank ! I could weep tears of blood to 
remove the impressions made upon the souls 
of men, while I was in the ministry of error. 
The past has gone to God. All that remains 
for me is, to lift my voice in defence of truth, 
and tell men what great thingb God has done 
for my soul. 

" The world will wonder, when they see 
A wretch like me restored ; 
And cry, Behold, how changed is he 
Who once despised the Lord I" 

Such are my reasons for renouncing Uni- 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 55 

versalisnij so far as connected with my reli- 
gious experience. These alone would be suf- 
ficient. I could not resist such light — I could 
not trifle with such convictions. God has 
been very gracious to me. To his name be 
the glory — to his service be my remaining 
days devoted ! 

"People of the living God, 

I have sought the world around ; 
Paths of sin and folly trod, 

Peace and comfort nowhere found. 
Now to you my spirit turns — 

Turns a fugitive unblest ; 
Brethren, where your altar bums, 

O, receive me into rest. 

" Lonely I no longer roam. 

Like the cloud, the wind, the wave ; 
Where you dwell shall be my home. 

Where you die shall be my grave : 
Mine the God whom you adore, 

Your Redeemer shall be mine ; 
Earth can fill this heart no more— 

Every idol I resign !" 



56 UNIYERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 



CHAPTER III, 

DIFFICULTIES OF UNIVERSALISM. 

To the system of Universalism there are 
many and mighty objections in the minds of 
all reasonable and sober men, who think upon 
the subject at all. Those difficulties increase 
upon a more familiar acquaintance with the 
system. None know them in their full power 
and extent but those who minister at its altar. 
In the system are many contradictions. Its 
practical tendency is bad. The proof adduced 
in its support from the Bible is not relevant. 
Reason and the Bible abound with arguments 
which teach a contrary doctrine. With all 
these the preacher of Universalism is familiar. 
He feels their power ; they meet him every- 
where. Could his confiding hearers know 
the misgivings of a Universalist preacher, the 
objections that surround him, and the suspi- 
cions that he whispers to confidential friends, 
they would feel that the risk was great in 
trusting such a doctrine. There could not be a 
more eloquent or impressive lecture upon Uni- 
versalism, than a collection of the confessions 
of its advocates. I will state some of them. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 57 

I. The system is new. 

In principle and spirit, Universalism is old 
as sin. It was taught in Eden, by Satan, who 
promised our parents exemption from punish- 
ment, should they break the divine command. 
In the time of the false prophets, it cried peace 
to the wicked in their sins, and assured them 
of endless life, though they turned not from 
their evil ways. From the age of the apostles 
till noAV, it has been steadily pursuing its work 
of death. It has not always been called by 
the same name ; nor always been similar in its 
mode of attack upon the truth ; nor uniform 
in its own defence or creed ; yet has it ever 
been found opposing itself to the command 
and authority of God, and urging men to walk 
in the way of death, with the assurance that, 
at the end, they would find peace and rest in 
heaven. But, as a system, it is a modern 
affair. To give this delusion a form and name ; 
to call it Christianity ; to attempt so to wrest 
the Bible, as to make it seem to countenance 
Universalism, belongs to modern days. After 
the truth and nature of Christian doctrine have 
been settled for eighteen centuries, Universal- 
ism appears ; upturning all past belief, and 
introducing doctrines, not one of which ever 



58 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

before entered into a system called Christian ; 
while it rejects all which have been regarded 
by Christians in all ages as the fundamental 
doctrines of grace. 

Universalists claim Origen, Clement of Al- 
exandria, and some others among the early 
fathers. Yet these fathers held not one doc- 
trine peculiar to Universalism ; neither did 
they believe in the salvation of all men. Ori- 
gen taught the preexistence and the transmi- 
gration of souls. He believed that all men 
were created at one time ; that in some period 
of their existence the lost would be restored ; 
that they might again sin and again be lost ; 
that while the once lost would ascend to hea- 
ven, those in heaven would descend to hell. 
The Universalism in which he believed con- 
sisted in a migration from hell to heaven, and 
back again. Clement of Alexandria taught 
that all who died without a knowledge of 
Christ would have space for repentance. He 
did not believe that all thus favored with the 
opportunity would repent ; much less that any 
could be saved without repentance. 

As a system, Universalism took its rise in 
England, and was early transferred to this 
country. Repudiated in the land of its birth, 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 59 

it has obtained a home in that of its adoption. 
Gloucester, Mass., is distinguished as having 
early received a living preacher of this delu- 
sion, the way for whom was prepared by a 
copy of ^^Relly's Union," which was brought 
there by a Scotchman. 

When we call Universalism a novel system, 
we do not speak of novelty in its principles, 
but in its way of teaching them. It diifers 
from the teaching of Satan in this : Satan 
did not presume to deny that God threatened 
men with death ; nor did he assert that the 
assurance he gave our parents was the promise 
of God. He did not pretend that Adam or 
Eve had mistaken the nature of the penalty 
threatened ; nor that it was their errpr that pro- 
duced their fear ; nor that while God threat- 
ened them with death, he intended to give 
them life. He threw himself across the com- 
mand of God, and dared to assert that God 
had threatened what he did not mean to per- 
form. Universalists reach the same result in 
another way. They declare that men may 
live in sin, and die as they have lived ; break 
every command in the decalogue, and reach 
the grave in the shortest way, with the most 
fearful crime upon their heads ; and yet be as 



60 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

certain of heaven as Paul, Peter, or John. And 
further than this — they assert that their vie^vs 
are taught in the Bible ; that the Bible was 
written expressly to teach them ; and that it 
teaches only their doctrines. Thus have they 
•• made the heart of the righteous sad, and 
strengthened the hands of the wicked." 

The novelty of Universalism consists not m 
its opposition to the law of God ; — the father 
of the system set the pattern in Eden. Nor in 
the doctrines it avows ; — they are all old, and 
have been better expressed, and more chastely 
defended, by the ancient Epicureans and the 
Deists of modern times. Neither does its 
novelty consist in promising to the wicked 
security from future woe, and bliss in heaven 
equal with the good : — these are errors old 
as man ; they are the foundation of sand on 
which, in all ages, the impious rest their hope 
of heaven. It is novel m this — that it claims 
for old errors the name of Christian. Though 
set up as antagonist to truth in other days, 
and so refuted, they are now gathered up, ar- 
ranged, and called Christianity ; and the Bible 
is appealed to now as the source and support 
of the deadliest delusions which it was given 
to destroy. Under the ministry of .Tames Relly 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 61 

and John Murray, between the years 1767 and 
1770, they were framed mto a system and 
named Universahsm. 

II. The character of Its founders. 
This sect arose under James Relly. He 
commenced his public career as an exhorter, 
in the connection of Whitefield. He embraced 
and defended UniversaHsm upon the idea that 
all men were united to Jesus Christ, and par- 
took of his nature and his destiny. The di- 
vinity of Christ was the corner-stone of his 
system. He taught that all men were exposed 
to eternal misery ; that from this dreadful 
doom they were rescued by the vicarious suf- 
ferings of Jesus Christ, who bore the curse 
and ransomed men from hell. Relly believed 
in no punishment for sin, actual or original, 
either in this world or that which is to come. 
Mr. Relly began his public ministry in Lon- 
don, not far from 1768. The character of his 
congregation, and the influence it must have 
exerted in the metropolis of the world, may 
be gathered from the following description 
from the pen of Mr. MmTay : '^ The house 
had formerly been occupied by Quakers ; 
tliere Avere no seats, save a few benches, and 
the pulpit was framed of a few rough boards, 



63 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

over which no plane had ever passed. The 
audience corresponded with the house :" that 
is, it was as rough as the boards. Relly was a 
man of very ordinary talents, of limited edu- 
cation, and had very little personal influence. 
In the land of his birth, and the field of 
his unholy labors, no one can be found who 
has embalmed his memory. His name has 
perished from among men. 

But John Murray is canonized as the Father 
of Universalism, though Mr. Relly first pub- 
licly preached it. Mr. Murray's auto-biogra- 
phy proves him to have been a mere change- 
ling in theology — a man destitute of education, 
and a bankrupt in character from his youth. 

He was by birth an Englishman, and began 
to preach Universalism as soon as he reached 
America, in 1770. Like all false prophets, he 
pretended to something like inspiration and 
miracle in respect to his faith. While he was 
carousing in England, the spirit of prophecy 
was given to an old man in New Jersey, as- 
suring him that this same Murray was in lat- 
ter days to be a preacher of Universalism to 
America. 

The story, as told b}^ Mm'ray, is this. On 
his passage from England to New- York, the 



UNIVERSALIS^M NOT OF GOD. 63 

vessel in which he sailed was driven out of 
her coursej and ran aground in Cranberry In- 
let. Murray went on shore to purchase a fish. 
A man introduced himself to Mr, Murray, 
made him a present of a fish, and informed 
him that he had been long expecting him. 
The stranger, whose name was Potter, in- 
formed Murray that some years before he had 
built a meeting-house at his own expense. 
He closed it against Presbyterians, Baptists, 
and Q^uakers, assuring his neighbors that God 
would send him a preacher. Long and pa- 
tiently had he waited. His neighbors taunt- 
ingly would inquire, ^^ Potter, where is your 
preacher ?'' But the moment he saw the vessel 
on shore, a voice said to him, '^ Potter, in that 
vessel, cast away, is your preacher." He be- 
lieved it, he says, and when MmTay came 
up to purchase the fish, the same voice said 
again, ^^ Potter, this is the man, this is the 
person whom I have sent to preach in your 
house." Yielding to a solicitation to preach, 
on condition that the Avind remained contrary, 
Murray became the guest of Potter. Seve- 
ral days passed ; still the wind was contrary. 
He preached on Sabbath morning. At noon 
the wind changed ; and this heaven-sent 



64 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

ambassador sailed out of Cranberry Inlet, on 
Sabbath afternoon, as supercargo of \ 

SLOOP BOUND FOR NeW YoRK. 

He preached three years in disguise. Amon g 

Presbyterians, he passed as a Presbyterian ; 
among Baptists, as a Baptist ; when Avith Me- 
thodists, he was supposed to be one of them. 
It Avas only by stratagem that the disguise 
was torn away ; a stratagem of which he com- 
plains most bitterly. He then found his true 
level, having made a beginning which befitted 
the father of a system rightly called the '-re- 
fuge of lies." 

Elhanan Winchester was contemporary 
with IMr. Murray. Though he had no fellow- 
ship with Mr. Murray, yet, like him, he 
preached some time in disguise ; professing to 
be a Baptist preacher, while he was a believer 
in Universal Salvation. 

The system of Winchester was, m all es- 
sential points, unlike that of Murray. He 
taught that men must suffer for sin, and for 
all sin. He believed that repentance only 
could save from hell, and that men would, 
literally, be redeemed by fire. He referred all 
those passages of Holy Writ which speak of 
hell fire, punishment in hell, and judgment to 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 65 

come, to the future ^vorld. His opinion was, 
that the wicked would be pimished, millions 
and millions of 3rears — so long as to defy the 
poYver of man to grasp the duration — so long 
as to justify the term eternal as applied to that 
dm^ation. That Universalism should be the 
doctrine of Revelation ; be hid from the most 
devout students of the Bible for eighteen 
hundred years ; and then be discovered and 
preached by such advocates, are difficulties, 
not the least, that attend its defence. 

III. The doctrines lohich are peculiar to 
modeni Universalism are novel, destructive^ 
and fatal. 

They are unlike those Vvmich are adopted 
by Christians. Between Universalists and theh 
opposers, there is no common ground. Th^y 
employ terms which are familiar to Christian 
ears ; they use the Vv'ords that are found in the 
Bible, to express their system of doctrine in 
part. But when employed by Universalists, 
those words have another sense, widely dif- 
ferent from their real meaning. 

Universalists talk of the Gospel, profess to 
believe it, to have a commission to preach it. 
But what is it ? A mere mockery ! It has no 
redemption in it, for men are punished in full 

Univer. a. 



66 UNIVERSALISM NOT 01- GOD. 

for all their sins. It even gives no man a title 
to heaven, for no one has lost that title. It 
cannot save from sin, for men sin till this life 
closes, so that they are not saved here from 
sin ; and by this doctrine there is no sin in 
the next life, so that it cannot save there. It 
redeems no man from death, for all die ; nor 
from the grave, for all must lie there ; nor 
from hell, for to that, Universalism says, men 
were never exposed. It remits no penalty ; 
it saves men from no punishment due to their 
crimes, for this system says punishment would 
be unjust. It writes no one's name in the book 
of life, for none was ever blotted out. Its 
whole busmess, and the only purpose for 
which it was given, is to teach that hell is a 
fable, future punishment a relic of supersti- 
tion, and that no one need be afraid to die : 
for die when or how a man may, nothing 
remains for him but an immortal state where 
he will be equal to the angels of God in 
heaven. 

It professes to believe in the evil of sin : ^^-et 
it is an evil that is not fatal, and it is no great 
thing to be redeemed from it ; no great thing 
to be redeemed at all. Sin is not an evil in 
the sight of God ; and, in the estimation of 



UNIYEKSALISM NOT OF GOD. 67 

the sect, God ^voiild rather prefer to have 
his law broken than kept ; and, as a proof of 
it, has determined to raise all who persist 
in their rebellion till life shall close, to a seat 
at his right hand. Universalism talks of the 
death of Christ, but denies the atonement. It 
declares that Jesus tasted death for all ; yet it 
affirms, most boldly, that Christ does nothing 
for men that they cannot do for themselves, 
nor would any be lost if he had not died at all ; 
that he lived to teach Universalism, and died 
to show that a Universalist could die and rise 
again from the dead. Such is the great and 
mighty mission given to the Son of God, ac- 
cording to that system which, above all others, 
professes to magnify the mercy of God through 
Jesus Christ. Nor is this all. It teaches that 
life is not a probation ; tha.t no act of man can 
TifFect in the least his futm-e condition : that 
all will stand upon an equality in the next 
world, all start from the grave upon the same 
level, however they may have lived or died ; 
that secret prayer is not a duty enjoined by 
its creed : that the Sabbath is an institution 
of expediency, and not of divine appointment ; 
and that all are hastening to the grave, and 
to a world beyond, in which no difference 



68 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

will be made between the evil and the good, 
^' between him that serveth God, and him 
that serveth him not." 

The system of doctrine peculiar to Univer- 
salism is this : a Gospel not essential to salva- 
tion ; a death for sinners with no redemption, 
no atonement in it ; a denial of depravity, 
regeneration, and a life of holiness ; a belief 
that sin is not an evil in the sight of God , 
that it can do no great harm to men in this 
life, and will debar no man from heaven in 
the next ; a denial of the immortality of the 
soul, and of future retribution. 

The founders and advocates of such deadly 
errors present themselves before the world as 
teachers of righteousness, and ministers of 
truth. They would have the world believe 
that prophets predicted such doctrines by in- 
spiration ; that angels announced their ap- 
proach ; and that Jesus Christ left the bosom 
of his Father to spread such sentiments over 
the earth, lived and suffered to teach them, 
died to sanction and confirm them ; and that, 
though revealed in the Bible, they were hid 
from all men for eighteen hundred years, and 
at length were revealed to Murray, Ballon, and 
Balfour. How true it is, that when men like 



UNIVERSALIS-^ NOT OF GOD. 69 

not to retain God in their knowledge, he Rives 
them up to vile affections ; and when they Avill 
not repent, but persist in their evil "ways, he 
sends them strong delusion, that they should 
believe a lie ! 

IV. The system is constantly changing. 

It Vv^as one thing under John Murray. He 
taught the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ : a 
salvation from endless damnation, and no pun- 
ishment for sin, either in the present or fu- 
ture world. Mr. Winchester, on the contrary, 
taught that sin would be punished in this life 
or the nexi. Its duration none could grasp. 
To the human comprehension it was eternal. 
Hosea Ballou recast the system, till it retained 
not one feature peculiar to it in the days of 
Murray. He has had conferred upon him the 
title of the •• Father of Modern Universalism." 

Mr. Ballou began the work of changing the 
system of Universalism, by the denial of the 
divinity of Jesus Christ, and adopting the 
lowest form of Humanitarianism. He claims, 
and not without reason, to be the first open 
advocate of Unitarianism in this country. It 
is certain, that '- Ballou on the Atonement '' 
was the first work in which that sentiment 
was openly defended. 



70 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

The denial of the divinity of Christ was, in 
the estimation of Mr. Murray, a denial of 
Christianity. He therefore disowned Mr. Bal- 
lon ; did not acknoAvledge him to be a Chris- 
tian ; nor, from the hour in which he em- 
braced Unitarianism, would he hold fellow- 
ship with him. After Mr. Murray's decease. 
Mr. Ballou was invited to supply the pulpit 
in Boston in which Mr. Murray had preached. 
He came : and, in his first sermon, advanced 
some of his Unitarian notions. A member of 
the society arose, and stated that the society 
did not believe such sentiments. Mrs. Murray, 
then present, pronounced them to be infidel, 
and not Christian doctrines. The congrega- 
tion would not alloAV him to proceed. He 
went home to Vermont, bearing upon his brow 
the stamp of infidelity, placed there by the 
Murray Universalists. Christians are accused 
of bigotry, because they do not recognize mo- 
dern Universalism to be Christianity, and its 
ministers to be ministers of Christ. If so, then 
was Murray the prince of bigots ; for he dis- 
owned his brethren and denied them the Chris- 
tian name, when they diff'ered from him in one 
thing only ; Avhile Universalists now disbelieve 
all things which we regard as Christianity. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 7i 

Xo sooner had the denial of Christ's Deity 
been reached, than other changes followed. 
Original sin ; the depravit}^ of rnan : his expo- 
sure to the Y,Tath of God : his need of an aton- 
ing sacrifice ; his liability to jndgment and 
endless death without the mediation of the 
Saviom — all of which vrere embraced in the 
Universalism of Murray — were swept away. 
Angels w^ere said to be men only, who Avere 
commissioned to preach. Hell fire became 
the love of God ; and going away into ever- 
lasting punishment was simply sending 
wicked men into the fires of regeneration, to 
make them fit for heaven. Change succeeded 
change, till, in 1818, -Mr. Ballou announced 
that Universalism knew no state or condi- 
tion beyond this mortal existence, but life 
and immortality ; and - that the Scriptures 
begin and end the history of sm in flesh 
and blood/*' 

To Walter Balfour Avas Mr. Ballou indebted 
for the genera.1 spread of the system of Uni- 
versalism, as remodelled by himself. Mr. Bal- 
four vras born in Scotland, and was brought 
up in the doctrines of the Scotch church. He 
early became a Haldanite, and by men of that 
sect was sent to America, as a missionary to 



i )i UNIVEKSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

the Puritans. As such he was introduced to 
the laie Dr. Morse. In a short time after his 
arrivalj he professed to be a CongregationaUst. 
Then he became a Baptist. Then a Puritan 
Baptist, celebrating the communion every Sal:- 
bathj and Vv^ashing his disciples' feet. From 
this sect he turned to Universalism. He was 
not, as is represented by UniversalistSj a po- 
pular Orthodox preacher ; he had not enjoyed, 
for years before he became a Universalist, 
the confidence of the Christian community. 
True, he made a hurried descent through 
Unitarianism and Restorationism, before he 
avowed himself a Universalist ; and, before he 
became an open Universalist, he addressed to 
the Rev. Professor Stuart a series of anony- 
mous letters, professing to be an inquirer after 
truth, and asking for light. These letters, ap- 
pearing in a print in which an inquirer after 
truth is seldom found, received no attention. 
None V\ras expected ; the whole was done for 
effect. Mr. Balfour then threw off his dis- 
guise and addressed the Professor over his own 
signature. But he secin-ed less attention, if 
possible, when known, than when he appear- 
ed as an anonymous v/riter. He gained his 
object, however. He was received by the 



UNIVERSALIS^ NOT OF GOD, 7^ 

TTiiiverscilists as a might37- man ; one whom 
Professor Stuart even could not answer. jL. 
Balfour adopted Mr. Ballou's s^^stem. and 
carried out its principles with so bold a 
nand, that many were startled : and the more 
moderate of the sect did not hesitate to pro- 
nounce Mr. Balfour a Deist. 

He waSj however, of great service to the 
sect. Parts of the Bible have ever been so 
stubborn, as to appear to teach a doctrine the 
opposite of Universalism. The great labor of 
the sect has ever been to explain away those 
parts, or to harmonize them with their sys- 
tem ; as the devil labored to prove that* his 
assertion, --Ye shall jiot surely die,*' was 
more worthy of credit than the threatening 
of Jehovah, -^ Ye shall surely die.'' 

The principles of exegesis adopted by Uni- 
versalists, are not designed to get at the real 
meaning of the Bible, but to remove the dif- 
ficulty which the Bible presents in the way 
of their system. Any interpretation, no mat- 
ter how absurd, will be adopted, that will 
answer this intent. 

As an illustration, take Matt. xxv. 31-40. 
Mr. Murray applied this passage to the future 
state, and believed that it was descriptive of 



74 UNIVERSALIS^ NOT OF GOD. 

the judgment of the last day. How then 
could he believe that all men would be saved .'' 
It v.^as in this way : all men were to stand be- 
fore the judgment-seat of Christ ; at that place 
and time, the sinner and his sins would be 
separated : the sinner, compared to sheep, 
would be placed upon the right hand in glory ; 
the sins, likened to goats, be sent away into 
everlasting punishment ! ! 

But ]\Ir. Winchester regarded this interjDre- 
ration as absurd as would be the conduct of a 
sheriff who allows the criminal to escape, but 
very gravely presents the coat of the guilty 
to the court, with the request that that might 
be tried and punished. He asserted that the 
passage was to be understood literally to sig- 
nify a punishment of such terrific dm-ation, as 
to justify the term endless ; a punishment, 
which should run on for millions and millions 
of ages. He called upon the impenitent to 
avert their doom by timely repentance. Mr. 
Ballou, thinking such a punishment, so dread- 
ful in duration, was too much like the notions 
of the Orthodox to allow a distinction, reached 
the profound conclusion that that Scripture 
did not refer to the future life at all, nor teach 
any punishment. It revealed this idea srni- 



UNIVERSAL ISM NOT OF GOB. / O 

ply. that men were to be cast into the love 
of God, to be pui'ified and made fit for heaven. 
And going away into everlasting punishmentj 
simply meant to go away into the love of God. 
At this crisis Mr. Balfom' came to the res- 
cue : he discovered a va^Uey on the south side 
of Jerusalem, to which this and all kindred 
passages referred. In this valley of Hinnom, 
all, or nearly all, the threatenings of the Bible 
had then fulfilment eighteen hundred years 
ago, when the Romans sacked Jerusalem. In. 
the book of ]Mr. Balfour, to which the Univer- 
.salists a.re indebted for their knowledge of 
sheol and gehenna^ we have this reference 
settled. When Christ says, ^' It shallhemoiQ 
tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment, 
than for"' those who heard and rejected Christ, 
Mr. Balfour says it was in the destruction of 
Jerusalem. When Paul informs the Gentile 
Thessalonians that ^' the Lord Jesus will take 
vengeance upon all those who know not God, 
and obey not the Gospel,** •• in the day vrhen 
he shall be revealed from heaven, with his 
miglity angels, in flaming fire,*' Mr. Balfour 
says this threatening, addressed to Gentiles, 
was fulfilled in the destruction of the Jews. 
And when Peter assures us, that the ^^ heavens 



76 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

and earth are kept in store, reserved unto fire 
against the day of judgment and the perdition 
of ungodly men," Mr. Balfoin: informs us that 
this also had its fulfilment when Jerusalem 
fell ; notwithstanding it was spoken to Gentile 
Christians, who had no more interest in the 
fall of Jerusalem than we have in China. 

But this was a great discovery for the Uni- 
versalists ; it changed the whole ciu'rent of 
their theology. All their interpretation of 
Scripture was made to fit the new application ; 
and poor Jerusalem now bears the curse of the 
whole earth. By this new mode of interpre- 
tation, more importance is attached to the 
sacking of Jerusalem than to the deluge. 
Pella, which sheltered a few Christians during 
the siege, is of more consequence than the ark 
which preserved all who perished not in the 
flood. Can such a system be of God ? 

V. Ujiiversalism is open to the objections 
which a?^e urged against Atheism. 

A nation of Atheists was never known. A 
nation of Universalists has not yet appeared. 
Not onl)^ have the whole Christian world, 
with few exceptions, rejected this doctrine, 
but also all the nations of the earth. Find a 
nation, and you find them in possession of 



L'MIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 7T 

faith in a Supreme Power, and faith in the 
doctrine of future retribution. Even amoQg 
those who, from habits and customs, might 
have been disposed to hmit aU suffering to 
this world. 3^ou find the most fearful descrip- 
tions of future woe, and the most ^- fearfm 
looking for of judgment.*' If Universal ism 
were true, it would be written somewhere. 
God is not the God that Universalism repre- 
sents him to be. if it is his purpose to save aii 
men ; for he has created us with a faith in 
future punishment, and written upon the con- 
science of no nation the doctrine of universal 
salvation. The patriarchs knew it not. In- 
spired men of old wrote of the misery of the 
damned. Luke xvi. 29-31. The chosen 
people of God, instructed by his inspired pro- 
phets, have ever believed that eternal death is 
the doom of the wicked. The entire mass 
of the Christian world, with those few excep- 
tions that hardly deserve a notice, have found 
the same truth written, not only in the New 
Testament, but also '• in the Law, in the Pro- 
phets, and in the Psalms." And all the na- 
tions of the earth, savage or civilized, bond or 
free, enlightened or degraded, have alike, with 
one consent, rejected the doctrine that all men 



78 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

will be saved. We say that Atheism is false, 
because the common sense of all nations has 
rejected it. All nations have rejected Univer- 
salism, which, by the same rule, is false. 

VI. The Bible is not ivritten as a text-book 
upon Universalism would be written. 

That doctrine does not appear upon the face 
of the Bible, if it appears at all. To support 
Universalism at all, the Bible must be ex- 
plained and re-translated. The labor to de- 
duce the salvation of all men from it, is great. 
Men do not get the impression, when they 
read the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, that he 
was a coward, or ignorant of the first princi- 
ples of military tactics, and, when at the head 
of his army, the flower of France, and the 
best disciplined in the world, was frequently 
I'outed by a handful of stragglers gathered 
from the streets and fields. No one would 
attempt to show from the history of Washing- 
ton that he was the enemy of his country and 
his race. Yet this would be an easier task 
than to convince the common sense of the 
world, that the Bible does not teach the truth 
that all are bound to the judgment, that all 
who die in sin are exposed to punishment 
after death, and that this life is given to pre- 
pare for another. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. /^ 

The men who defend Universalism are not 
learned men. They talk of Hebrew and 
Grnek ; while many of them are ignorant of 
tlie English tongue. They speak of Light- 
foot, Jahnj and Campbell, men of whom they 
Imow little except by the help of a small book, 
published by one of the limited number com- 
petent to the work, and called ^' Selections 
from Commentators." 

The father of Universalism could preach for 
years very successfully, without a knowledge 
of English grammar. It has been asserted by 
the sect, in one of their public prints, that 
their ^^best and most successful preachers 
know nothing of grammar or rhetoric." The 
Hudson River Association have decided that 
'^ a knowledge of English grammar is not a 
requisite for ordination." A young man, des- 
titute of education, tired of some honest call- 
ing, may, in three or four weeks, become the 

Rev. Mr. B , able to argue all the good 

people out of their patience, if not out of their 
faith. 

A preacher left a Christian denomination, 
and became a Universalist. In the account 
he gave of the reasons which made him a 
Universalist, I heard him relate this : Being 



80 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

troubled with his faith, he resolved to visit 
Andover, and converse with the professors of 
the theological school. After repeated con- 
versations with Drs. Woods and Stuart, and 
finding himself, like the woman in the Gos- 
pel, '^ no better, but rather worse," he resolved 
to avail himself of the large library in the 
seminary ; and, by close study and much 
prayer, remove his doubts, and firmly settle 
himself on the foundation of truth. But all 
his labor was in vain. His difficulties in- 
creased, and he was obliged to become a Uni- 
versalist. 

Some young men of the seminary wished 
to know how profound, his investigations 
had been. They examined the books of the 
librarian, and found that in the course of three 
or four Vv^eeks he had taken from the library 
two books : one was Hitchcock on Dyspepsia, 
the other had something to do with Dietetics. 
If then the Bible were not properly translated, 
the preachers of Universalism would not be 
able to make the correction. 

YII. Character of Ujiiversalist societies. 
The communities gathered under the influ- 
ence of such a system as Universalism, and 
gathered to sustain it, are such as might be 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 81 

expected, both in character and duration. 
They are composed mostly, not of the sober — 
not of the moral or virtuous — ^but of men of 
no religious principle ; men tired of restraint, 
wishing the largest license, and asking for a 
form of faith which will strengthen their hands 
to do evil. Such societies become the home 
of bad men— the refuge of apostates. Ex- 
communicate a man for wickedness, and you 
knoAV where to find him afterwards. They 
take all that is left in a community ; and it is 
a common remark of such as have no other 
habitation, when asked where they belong, 
that they are '^ Universalists, if anything," or 
they ^^ attend a Universalist meeting when 
they go anywhere." If a man hangs himself, 
or dies of delirium tremens, no doubts exist as 
to who will attend his funeral, or Avhat bell 
will announce his interment. Infidels are 
among the most zealous supporters of such 
meetings ; and boys, young men of loose prin- 
ciples, the irreligious and profane. Sabbath 
breakers, with all others who have not the 
fear of God before their eyes, swell their ranks, 
support their cause, and bow to the mij^ister 
as he passes through the streets, as to their 
spiritual guide. 



82 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Such societies are not formed for dev^o- 
tiorij the advance of morals, or the reading of 
the Bible. Universalis ts read some parts of 
the Bible — those parts which they regard as 
proof-texts. But none are more ignorant of 
the Bible than they. All know this, who 
have anything to do with them. The daily 
reading of the Bible for devotion and profit is 
not observed. They do not love the book : 
as they frequently express it, ^' The Trumpet 
is Bible enough for them." 

Universalist societies do not long abide : 
one goeth and another cometh. Men learn 
out in a short time, and having assured them- 
selves that there is no hell, care for little else 
in respect to religion. There is no room for 
wonder that so many societies exist : with 
such an abundance of material in every place 
to compose them, the marvel is, that there are 
not more. 

The pastor of the society in Philadelphia 
complains, that men who once were the pil- 
lars of the congregation, become Sabbath 
breakers, wandering about the streets and 
fields, while he preaches to empty pews. 

Mr. Balfour calls Universalist societies 
*' ropes of sand," falling to pieces, leaving 



UNIVERSALISxVI NOT OF GOB. S3 

only a fragment. He sta,tes that societies 
within his knowledge are made up of ^^ infi- 
d.els and profane swearing men" — ^building 
churches to shut up, or to transfer to other 
denominations — making Universalism a •• hiss- 
ing and a by- word" — causing men to wonder 
that any one ^^ could remain in the ministry." 

Mr. Charles Hudson, now a member of 
Congress, and formerly a Universalist preacher, 
states, from the observation of years, that more 
than nine tenths of the societies formed are 
of an irreligious, profane, ungodly character ; 
^^ and that more than two thirds of all that 
were formed within the past ten years have per- 
ished.''^ Hosea Ballon, 2d, com.pares Univer- 
salist societies to a ^' dead body ;" and preach- 
ing, to ^^ galvanism, operating" upon the body, 
which presents a ^-horrid mockery of life." 
He compares them also to '* worthless car- 
casses, which are half buried" — -^a festering 
corruption on the face of the earth." 

VIII. Universa lists are not corifirmed in 
their faith. 

Two classes of persons make up a Univer- 
salist congregation. The one have no faith 
in Revelation. They have faith in the preach- 
ing of Universalism, because, in their opinion 



84 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

it is better than nothing ; and because its chief 
work is to put down Orthodoxy. In this class 
should be ranked those who avouch them- 
selves to be ^^ Universalists, if they are any- 
thing/' but who have little concern in it any 
way. If Universalism is in the Bible, it will 
be Avell with them ; if not, they will reject 
the Bible. A second class is made up of those 
who are called Universalists, and perhaps call 
themselves so. They attend a Universalist 
meeting, because their friends do ; or because 
a husband or a brother desires their attend- 
ance ; or because they have not yet made up 
their mind in relation to vdiat the Bible does 
teach. They Avish Universalism to be true • 
hope it is so, and try to believe it. Such 
attend upon preaching to have their doubts 
removed. They will read Universalist papers, 
«irgue in defence of the system, and attempt, 
by removing doubts in the mind of others, to 
remove their own. 

The most decided Universalists by profes- 
sion often confess that they have doubts of the 
truth of the doctrine : and that, when they 
look forward to death, they are fearful that 
the exchange of worlds will be for the worse, 
and not for the better. Others allow that a 



UNIVERSALI3M NOT OF GOD. 85 

moral change must take place in them before 
they die, if they are to be blessed ; and yet 
try to persuade themselves that Universalism 
is true, and that, though such a change be not 
experienced, it will be Vv^ell with them in the 
future. Whenever you find a Universalist 
restless and uneasy, full of dispute and argu- 
ment, always ready for debate, and challeng- 
ing every one to a discussion, you may rest 
assured that you are in the presence of one 
who has serious doubts as to the truth of Uni- 
versalism. 

When, in my intercourse Avith Universalists, 
I met so many wavering and doubting, Avhom 
I had considered to be the most firm and de- 
cided ; and so many preachers confessing the 
existence of objections against Universalism 
which they could not remove, calling in ques- 
tion the relevancy of important proof-texts 
urged in favor of the system, and suggesting 
difficulties that no ingenuity could remove — 
I found it for a long time no easy work to 
defend my faith. 

IX. The mini sir 1/ of Univei^salism is pecu- 
liar. 

Many, no doubt, believe what they preach. 
Many do not. Many know better than to 



86 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

preach it : and if their OAvn doubts and mis- 
givings could be known, their congregations 
M'ould disappear like the morning dew. Many 
are not satisfied with the doctrine, nor the 
evidence by which it is supported. They are 
unable to explain, to their own satisfaction, 
certain parts of the Bible which are urged 
against their views. With the moral results 
of their faith the^^ are familiar, and know them 
to be evil : and could the deluded votaries, 
hoodwinked by these men, read their own 
confessions of doubt and evil, they would at 
once break the slavery that binds them as ser- 
vants to Satan. 

Such eniplo}'. in defence of Universalism, 
arguments that do not satisfy' their own minds. 
The3" give to a difficult text an interpretation 
which the}', at the same time, knov\^ to be 
misound. 

Many preachers, even those the most popular, 
allow that the)' preach for money ; and that, 
unless well paid, they Avould not preach at all. 
A near relation of mine, a Universalist minis- 
ter, has confessed to me that he preached to 
get his bread : that his preaching did not 
reform men, neither did he expect it would ; 
that he was well paid for preaching : thai 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. S7 

sometimes his hearers Avere pleased, and some- 
times they were offended : but he ahvays got 
his pay. 

Many of my ministerial associates professed 
to have little confidence hi the truth of the 
system, or in its good moral tendency. In 
private social meetings, mmisters confess to 
each other that there are objections to Univer- 
salism ^vhich they cannot remove. I have 
heard old men pomt out the sophistry of an 
argument used m defence of the system by a 
young man, and then employ the same argu- 
ment, when preaching on the same subject. 
Often have I heard a zealous Universalist say, 
'•' Oiu' Orthodox friends do not know om' weak 
points so well as we knov/ them om-selves." 

T^he language of the Bible in respect to 
false teachers, seems so clearly to describe 
the preaching of Universalism, that in reading 
it the mind at once makes the application. 

The Bible abounds Avith declarations such 
as these : ••' Let no man deceive you.'' '^ Take 
heed how ye hear.*' •• Be not deceived, God 
is not mocked.'' ^-Beware of false prophets, 
which come to you in sheep's clothing.'* 
There are two reasons why the followers of 
Christ should be on their guard. The first is, 



88 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

that deceivers never come in their proper garb. 
They appear to be what they are not. They 
take the name, and use the Avords of Christ, 
only to deceive. If the disciples trust to ap- 
pearanceSj they will be misled. A second 
reason for vigilance is, that, if they are de- 
ceived, and follow after error, they will as 
surely be devoured by a wolf in sheep's cloth- 
ing, as if they had voluntarily given them- 
selves up to destruction. The man who takes 
a cup of poison, supposing it to be a cup of 
health, is destroyed as certainly as if he 
intended to take his own life. 

You cannot place before any intelligent 
mind the character of false teachers, as ex- 
hibited in the Bible, without leaving the im- 
pression that you have reference to the advo- 
cates of Universalism ; — ^for their busmess, 
and the business of false teachers in all ages 
of the world, is one. They deny the threat- 
enings of God's word ; and cause men to be- 
lieve that, though they rebel against God, and 
live in impenitence, God will not do as he has 
threatened. So was Satan engaged in Eden, 
when he effected the ruin of our race. So 
were false prophets, when they cried peace and 
safety. And no sooner was the cross lifted 



UNIVERSALIS^ NOT OF GOD. 89 

up, than false teachers appeared, denying the 
Lord, and brmging in ^' damnable heresies." 

No EvangeHcal minister hesitates to apply 
such Scriptures to the preachers of Universal- 
ism, lie believes that Universalism is ^- an- 
other gospel ;" and believing this, he cannot 
receive the preachers of the doctrine as min- 
isters, nor in any vray countenance their 
claims. Universalist preachers understand 
this. They know that they are not regarded 
as Christians, and that, as false teachers, they 
are excluded from the pulpits and the com- 
munion of Christians. They feel this — they 
complain of it. 

But a Universalist preacher cannot apply 
this text to Evangelical ministers. He dare 
not close his pulpit against them on the ground 
that they are false teachers, v\^hom he dare not 
countenance lest he bid them God speed, and 
become a partaker of their evil deeds. 

X. It has no sanctions. 

I felt, while preaching Universalism, like a 
lawgiver attempting to enforce among the dis- 
solute obedience to a law, to the violation of 
which no penalty Avas attached. I could urge 
men to repent of sin, to reform, to love God 
and serve him. But the answer would come 



90 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

back, Suppose we do not choose to do so , 
what then ? In reply, I could only urge that 
it was better not to sin ; that the way of the 
transgressor is hard ; and that it was more 
conducive to happiness to serve God, than to 
rebel against him. Upon the countenance of 
my hearers, I seemed to read the inquiry, Sup- 
pose we differ from you, and prefer the ser- 
vice of sin, and choose to rebel against God ; 
what will be the consequence ? The only 
ansv/er that I could give was, ^' Nothing I 
You had better not live in sin ; but if you do, 
you will be saved." 

I could swell this list of difficulties to an 
indefinite extent. The doctrines of Univer- 
salism strike at the root of all Christian faith 
and piety. They are so near Atheism and 
infidelity, that both of them can take refuge 
under their wing. The congregations which 
attend upon its ministry are irreligious, and 
wish so to remain. 

Many preachers have little confidence in the 
system, and admit their inability to remove 
objections that are urged against it. Their 
intercourse is distinguished for anything, ra- 
ther than good-will and brotherly love. Few 
of the professors of Universalism are at ease, 



UNIVERSAIiISM NOT OF GOD. 91 

or confirmed in their faith. A preacher can 
more easily remove doubts from the minds of 
Others, than from his own ; and he is fre- 
quently found using arguments in which he 
has very little confidence. He has no sanc- 
tions with which to urge home truth upon the 
heaj't. And then, when he remembers the 
names, the number, the character, the stand- 
ing of those who, in all ages, have rejected 
Universalism ; and the character, talents, and 
standing of those who defend it, and their 
writings on the subject ; and when he adds to 
all, the modern date of the system; he has a 
mass of difficulties not easily overcome. 

AlloAV me to ask, in conclusion. Can such a 
system as Universalism be of God ? Is it not 
a delusion of the most appalling kind ? Does 
not he who trusts it injure his own soul ? Fly, 
then, from such delusion, so fatal, so decep- 
tive. Let not Satan, the enemy of souls, 
secure you as a subject of his dark dominions. 
If he has in any measure got hold of you by 
means of a system of deception, turn to Jesus, 
^^ if God, peradventure, will give you repent- 
ance to the acknowledging of the truth." 
Fly, then, from error, lest you perish. Fly 
from sin to holiness, from death to life. 



92 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

CHAPTER IV. 

PROOFS AGAINST UNIVERSALISM. 
StTMMARY OF ARGUMENTS AGAINST UNIVERSALISM, 

1. It has all the marks of being the doc- 
trine of Satan which attended the temptation 
in Eden. Its purpose, its result is the same. 

2. It answers to the false teaching, which, 
in the days of the prophets, seduced men from 
the path of truth to the way of death. Like 
that, it is a system of vanity and lies ; cries 
peace to the wicked, daubs with untempered 
mortar, sews pillows to all arm-holes, and with 
lies makes sad the heart of the righteous, by 
promising the wicked life, though he turn not 
from his sins. In no way can Universalism 
be so well described, or its ministers be so 
graphically represented, as by reading the 
prophets referred to. 

3. It fulfils the prediction of the apostles 
in respect to the errors of later times. ^^ For 
such are false apostles, deceitful vs^orkers, 
transforming themselves into the apostles of 
Christ. And no marvel ; for Satan himself is 
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore 
it is no great thing if his ministers also be 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 93 

transformed as the ministers of righteousness ; 
whose end shall be according to their works." 
2 Cor. xi. 13-15. Such were to ^- bring in 
damnable heresies ;*' ^^ deny the Lord that 
bought them;" ^^make merchandise of the 
souls of men ;" and ^' lead many from the 
truth to fables." Those delusions which have 
been scattered over the surface of time from 
the first temptation, ma.y now be found em- 
bodied in Universalism. 

4. It has the marks of falsehood which dis- 
tinguish Atheism — all nations, in all ages, 
have rejected it. 

5. It does not appear upon the face of any 
part of the Bible. Take any part, print it in 
the form of a Tract, and it would not convert 
a single soul to Universalism. The sermon 
on the Mount, or on Mars Hill, for example. 
When they read the Scriptures in public, Uni- 
versalist preachers are obliged to use great care 
in the selection. 

6. It makes the Bible an unmeaning or 
deceptive book. If Universalism be true, the 
Bible has misled the mass of Christians, the 
best, the most devoted students, for eighteen 
hundred years ; and martyrs at the stake have 
died in defence of sentiments which were 



94 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

false, but which they supposed they found in 
the Bible. It is not a light shining in a dark 
place. It is not an unerring guide unto 
truth. 

7. Its age is against it. The father of the 
system has not been dead fifty years. The 
first society in America was organized in 1785, 
and the man yet lives who gave it its present 
form. 

8. It has no fixed character. It is not the 
same in any two periods of time. It is a child 
of many parents. At one time it teaches, that 
men are to be saved from hell ; and at another, 
that men were never exposed to hell. It 
teaches at one time, that Christ, by his death, 
made a vicarious atonement ; at another, that 
his death was simply that of a witness to the 
truth. We are told by one father, that men 
will be saved, because Christ has ransomed 
them, or paid their debt ; by another, that 
men are adequately punished, and are saved 
on the ground of strict retributive justice ; and 
by still another, that the resurrection is to do 
the work and prepare men for heaven. At 
one time, men are thought to be justly ex- 
posed to endless punishment ; at another, end- 
less punishment is regarded as cruel and un- 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 95 

just. With some; Christ was divine ; Vv^th 
Others, he was simply a man. The explana- 
tion of Scripture adopted by the sect is equally 
contradictory. Two or three different a,nd 
contradictory interpretations attend the same 
text. When one of the explanations does not 
remove a scriptural difficulty out of the way 
of Universalism. another is adopted, and then 
another. Thus the twenty-fifth chapter of 
Matthew is, by Mr. Murray, referred to the 
judgment. According to Mr. Ballou, it shows 
that sinners are to be cast into the love of 
God. And Mr. Balfour is very certain that it 
refers to the valley of Hinnom. 

9. The positive teaching of Christ, that 
men are exposed to hell, to a punishment after 
the death of the body, a punishment more 
dreadful than the death of the body, puts 
down the system. Matt. x. 28. 

10. The fact that men could commit a sin 
which would never be forgiven, which would 
expose the guilty to eternal damnation, proves 
that Universalism is a •• ministry of lies.*^ 
Such a sin did Ananias and Sapphira commit : 
for it they died. Mark iii. 29. Acts v. 3. 

11. The distinctions to be made in the 
resurrection confute the idea of universal sal- 



96 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

vation. •• Some to everlasting life, and some 
to shame and everlasting contempt." Dan. 
xii. 2. ^^ They that have done good, unto the 
resmTection of life ; and they that have done 
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 
John V. 2S, 29. ^^ Thou shalt be recom- 
pensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke 
xiv. 14. '^ Them also which sleep in Jesus 
will God bring with him." 1 Thess. iv. 14, 
16. We find, that, in the resurrection, some 
will ^* be clothed," and some '- be found 
naked." 2 Cor. v. 1-4. We read of the 
'^ better resurrection," for the sake of which 
holy men often endured persecution and death 
for the truth's sake, Heb. xi. 33-35 ; and of 
'^ the resurrection of the just and unjust ;" and 
of •*' the first resurrection," Vvrhich will save all 
who have a part in it from '^ the second death." 
Rev. XX. 6. 

12. The destruction of the old world, as a 
type of future judgment, is utterly opposed to 
Universalism. 2 Peter iii. 7. Such a judg- 
ment took the subjects of it to glory, or re- 
served them to the judgment of the great 
day. If the first, then the most depraved of 
our race had a special agent appointed to con- 
duct them to glor)^, as Elijah had. It is de- 



UNIYERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 97 

pravity, not holiness, that leads to God. And 
the fact that all nations are not in heaven, 
results from their want of depravity— they are 
not wicked enough to be taken away. If this 
view be not correct the Bible one is, that men 
who lived before the flood, and since, must 
all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. 

13. The fact that the people of Sodom and 
Gomorrah are set forth as an ^^ ensample, suf- 
fering the vengeance of eternal fire," and are 
to be judged in common with all our race, 
effectually disproves Universalism. Jude 7. 
Mark vi. 11. 

14. Universalism is disproved by the Bible 
doctrine, that death is the penalty of sin, 
which men may escape by repentance. The 
penalty is not natural death : from that no 
man can escape, though he does repent. The 
penalty is not spiritual death ; for that is the 
crime. It is eternal death. When God said 
to our first parents, ^' In the day that thou 
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," he con- 
veyed by the term death the idea which the 
Tews attached to that word in the time when 
Moses wrote. All know that it signified the 
eternal death of the soul by the threatenings 
of God a2:ainst sinners. 



98 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

15. Universalism is confuted by that large 
class of texts, which runs through the entire 
Bible, and which compares this life to a race, 
or a warfare ; which presents conditions to 
salvation ; which leaves the event doubtful 
and the danger certain. 

16. Universalism is inconsistent with the 
conduct of all holy men of old, who lived and 
walked with God, suffered for his name, and 
went joyfully to death for his sake, that they 
might secure a crown of life, and dwell with 
God forever. Heb. xi. 

17. Another argument is afforded by the 
testimony of Paul, that he lived, preached, 
and labored in view of the judgment, that at 
last he might be accepted, and not be a cast- 
away. 2 Cor. V. 1-11. 

18. Universalism is discredited by the num- 
ber, learning, and piety of those who reject it, 
compared with the character of those who 
embrace and defend it. The one having 
maintained their views for eighteen hundred 
years ; the other sect having ncAvly come up. 

19. Universalism is contrary to the repeated 
declarations of Christ in respect to the cer- 
tainty, nature, and endless duration of futm^e 
pimishment, as found in the first sermon that 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 99 

fell from his lips, and in the entire record of 
his teachings. 

THE PBfiACHING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

John the Baptist came to herald the Mes- 
siah ; to prepare the way of the Lord. He 
preached not as Universalists preach. His 
hearers believed in eternal rewards and pmi- 
ishments. He confirmed them in their faith. 
He commenced his ministry by calling men 
to repentance, by -warning them of '- wrath 
to come/' by assuring them that the august 
Personage whom he came to announce, would 
burn up the wicked, in the last day, ^^ like 
chaff in an unquenchable fire.'' How much 
instruction of this kind would it take, to con- 
vince men that there was no wrath in the 
future world, no unquenchable fire into which 
the wicked would be cast ? 

THE PREACHING OF CHRIST THE LORD. 

The first sermon that fell from the lips of 
the Son of God, is most pointedly aimed 
against Universalism. In that sermon, he 
describes the class of men who are blessed 
and accepted of God ; and, by contrast, those 



lOU UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

also wlio are cursed and rejected. He adverts 
to the broad way, through which the throng- 
hig muhitudes go down to death, and points 
out the narrow way, in which few traveUers 
are found. He mentions sins, the commission 
of which exposes men '- to hell-fire " — ^' afire 
that never shall be quenched.''' He urges men 
to lay up for themselves treasures in heaven. 
for so only can they have an inheritance 
there. He plainly teaches that all who heed 
not his words, will, in the last day, resemble 
the foolish man, who was ruined in the hour 
of tempest and storm. How many converts 
would this first sermon of the Saviour secm'e, 
if noAv repeated, from place to place, by the 
advocates of Universalism ? 

He kept about his Father's business, call- 
ing sinners to repentance, and warning the 
wicked of the damnation of hell. The whole 
teaching of the Saviour was of the same char- 
acter. A few instances I will produce. 

^^ Fear not them which kill the body, but 
are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear 
Him which is able to destroy both soul and 
body in hell." ^'But I vdll forewarn you 
whom ye shall fear : Fear Him which, after 
he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell ; 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 101 

yea, I say unto you. Fear him.*' Matt. x. 2S. 
Luke xii. 5. 

We have here something of ^"hich to be 
afraid after the body has been killed. Some- 
thing more dreadful than the death of the 
body ; even the damnation of hell. Matt, 
xxiii. 33. 

'• But he that shall blaspheme against the 
Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in 
danger of eternal damnation." Mark iii. 29. 

This is a sin that cannot be forgiven. The 
language is emphatic. ^' He that shall blas- 
pheme against the Holy Ghost hath never for- 
giveness, but is in danger of eternal damna- 
tion." A man cannot be exposed to that 
which does not exist. If no such thing as 
eternal damnation exists^ then Christ was a 
deceiver. If there is such a damnation, then 
Universalism is false : hell is not a fable ; 
damnation is eternal ; and those who are ex- 
posed to it ^^have never forgiveness r'' — no 
escape, no deliverance. 

^- Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, 
in the which all that are in the graves shall 
hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they 
that have done good, unto the resurrection 
of life ; and they that have done evil, unto 



102 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

the resurrection of damnation." John v. 
28, 29. 

The interpretation of Universalists is, that 
this is not a literal, but a moral resurrection ; 
and that the resurrection of damnation is spir- 
itual condemnation. But such an interpreta- 
tion is absurd. In the first place, it makes 
the violation of the law and the penalty to be 
the same thing : the crime and the punish- 
ment are one. ^^ They that have done evil" 
are already spiritually dead. This was their 
crime, and Christ commanded them to believe, 
and pass from death to life. It was for being 
spiritually dead that they were to come forth 
to damnation. According to the Universalist 
exposition, the crime was spiritual death ,• and 
the punishment they are to receive is a con- 
tinuance in the same state of spiritual death. 

Suppose a parent wishes to secure obedi- 
ence to his command : he informs his children 
that they must obey him ; that his law is just, 
and its penalty righteous. Do any of them 
steal ? as a punishment, they shall steal. Do 
any utter falsehood ? uttering falsehood shall 
be their chastisement. And in general, for 
every act of disobedience, just such another 
act shall be added, as a punishment. How 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 103 

long would parental authority be maintained 
in that family ? How much of such discipline 
would it demand to promote reformation, and 
preserve peace and good order ? 

In government let crime and punishment 
be identical — ^let robbery and murder be 
avenged by compelling the guilty to pursue 
their unhallowed employment, and dip their 
hands in the blood of other victims. Who 
could endure such mockery of justice ? Could 
government stand one hour with such a pe- 
nalty? And is this the character of the gov- 
ernment of God ? Did the blessed Saviour, 
who came to redeem us from the curse of the 
law, come to this world to announce that 
crime and its punishment is one and the same 
thing ? and that to save men from the curse 
of the law is impossible ? 

In the connection the Redeemer has spoken 
of a spiritual resurrection. " The hour now 
is" when the dead shall hear my voice. John 
V. 25. ^^ Marvel not at this .'" that those who 
are dead in sin now hear my voice, and live. 
A greater thing than this is to take place. 
^' The hour is coming, in the which all that 
are in their graves (making a distinction be- 
tween those morally ^xidi those literally dead) 



104 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

shall hear my voice^ and shall come forth ; 
they that have done good, unto the resurrec- 
tion of life ; and they that have done evil, unto 
the resurrection of damnation." Now, in 
these words, if the Saviour is speaking of men 
dead in sin, and representing them as buried, 
he would, to preserve sense, have represented 
the good as being already alive. But both 
classes, the good and the evil, are dead ; both 
are in their graves ; both hear the voice of the 
Son of God ; and both come forth from their 
graves, the one to a resurrection of life^ the 
other to a resurrection of damnation. 

To the future life as the world of rewards 
and punishments, the Saviour directed the 
minds of those who heard him. ^^ But when 
thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, 
the lame, the blind : and thou shalt be blessed ; 
for they cannot recompense thee ; for thou 
shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the 
just." That the people who heard this, un- 
derstood him to refer to the future state of 
existence, is evident from this remark : ^^ And 
when one of them that sat at meat with him 
heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed 
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of 
God." Luke xiv. 15 : compare Matt. xxvi. 29. 



CNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 105 

The current language of the Saviour's dis- 
courses presents the same solemn fact. See 
Matt. xvi. 24-30. Matt. x. 28. Matt. xxv. 
31-46. Luke xvi. 19-31. 2 Thess. i. 6-10. 
2 Cor. V. 1-11. Heb. x, 26-31. 2 Peter ii. 
1-9; iii. 7-9. Rev. xx. 11-15; xxii. 11-19. 

The general impression made upon the 
minds of those who heard the Saviour, was, 
that salvation was a difficult matter. ^-Who 
then can be saved?" was a question more 
than once propounded by his anxious auditors. 
^^ Lord, are there few that be saved ?" Avas a 
question proposed by those to whom he said 
that the gate was ^-strait" and the way ^^ nar- 
row" that led to life eternal. All this is 
utterly irreconcilable with the idea that Jesus 
taught that all men will be saved. 



X06 tJNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

CHAPTER V. 

PROOFS AGAINST UNIVERSALISM— (Continued.) 

HISTORY OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

Luke xvi. 19-31. 

This is nowhere in Scripture called a para- 
ble. Nor is it explained, as was the parable 
of the wheat and tares, Matt. xiii. 18-43. 

Who was the rich man who died, and in hell 
lifted up his eyes in torment ? In what condi- 
tion in this world have men ever been placed, 
in wliich they have sought relief, and have 
been told that there was no mitigation, no 
relief, no escape from such dreadful torments ? 
Would the Saviour so minutely illustrate 
other parables, and leave this unexplained? 
If, as Dr. Whitby affirms, an allegory similar 
to this history was in existence in the time 
of the Saviour, it cannot alter the case. Christ, 
by adopting it, sanctions the doctrine taught 
in it, and presents the narrative before us as 
a clear representation of the world of woe. 
In this whole recital is there one word which 
intimates that it was an allegory ? or a word 
to justify the interpretation of Universal- 
ists ? Do the apostles explain it as they do ? 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 107 

Does inspiration in any place come to their 
aid? 

Instead of placing the rich man in hell, and 
sending Lazarus into Abraham's bosom, the 
Saviour, on the ground of Universalism, would 
have placed the beggar in the rich man's 
house, adding to his splendor and sumptuous 
fare, and then placed the rich man at the gate, 
to beg a few crumbs from Lazarus's table. 
Such was actually the change which took 
place, if, as Universalists allege, the death of 
the rich man was the loss of his spiritual pri- 
vileges, and the death of the beggar was the 
conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of 
Abraham ! But Jesus says, '^ The beggar 
died, and was carried by the angels into Abra- 
ham's bosom ; the rich man also died, and 
was buried ; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, 
being in torments." Luke xvi. 22, 23. 

The relief which the rich man sought can- 
not represent a desire on the part of the Jews 
for the blessings of the Gospel, for they have 
never made such a request. Do they desire 
Christians to seek out their brethren, and tes- 
tify in relation to the Gospel ? Would they 
leceive such a message gladly? Does not all 
history teach that the opposite is true ? If such 



108 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

a request should come from the Jews^ would it 
be disregarded? Is there any hindrance to 
seeking them out and relieving them ? 

But between the rich man and Lazarus 
there was a gulf^ and it was fixed. It could 
not be passed by the one any more than by 
the other. Universalists tell us that we are 
^^ by this to understand that purpose of God, 
in which it is determined that the Jews shall 
not believe the Gospel until the fulness of the 
Gentiles come in." But if salvation was im- 
possible to the JewSj why did God send his 
Son to this people? Why did the Saviour 
warn them, teach them, call them to repent- 
ance, and attempt to save them, if they were 
excluded from faith by the decree of God? 
Why did he send forth his disciples to the 
^^ lost sheep of the house of Israel ?" And, 
after his death, why did he command them 
to begin at Jerusalem ? Why does Paul say, 
'' But seeing ye put it (the word of God) from 
you, and judge yourselves unworthy of ever- 
lasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles ?'' 
Acts xiii. 46. Were these offers made in good 
faith to the Jews ? Then might they have 
believed the Gospel. 

The explanation given of the gulf, by Uni- 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 109 

versalistS; is designed to prove that a Jew can- 
not believe the Gospel until the fulness of the 
Gentiles come hi. •■ A great gulf fixed, so 
that they which vrould pass from hence to 
you cannot.'' If this be so. then the conver- 
sion of a Jew was mipossible. But such is 
not the fact. All the apostles were Jews : so 
vrere the seventy disciples ; the five hundred 
brethren that saw the Lord at once were 
Jews : and the converted thousands at Pente- 
cost were of the same nation ; and yet the 
fulness of the Gentiles had not come in. In 
every age since the ascension of Jesus, many 
of the sons of Abraham have believed on 
Christ j and still the fulness of the Gentiles 
tarries. If. then, the gulf is unbelief, it can 
be passed, and Christ is made a deceiver. But 
if it be so •• fixed "' that it camiot be tra- 
versed — if there is no passmg from the wor d 
of w^oe to the world of joy — then are the 
opinions of Universalists false, absmxl, and 
destructive. 

The pm-pose of this Scripture is to teacli 
us that heaven and hell lie beyond the grave — 
that men in their lifetime form those charac- 
ters which will fit them for the one, or the 
other— that the destiny of men is fixed at 



110 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

death — and from hell there is no redemp- 
tion. 

No labor, sophistry, or ingenuity, can turn 
this passage from its application to the future 
world ; nor remove, nor iveaken the solemn 
warning it contains, to all who live in sin, to 
repent in their ^4ifetime," '^ lest they also go 
to that place of torment." 

PARABLE OF THE TARES OF THE FIELD. 

I can in no way so well expose the strong 
delusion under which some teachers of Uni- 
versalism act, as by placing their interpreta- 
tion of these solemn words by the side of 
Christ's own interpretation. We are told that 
the disciples came to Jesus, saying, '^ Declare 
unto us the parable of the tares of the field." 
Matt. xiii. 36. 

chuist's explanation. tjntversalist explanation. 

" He answered, and said " By the Son of man, Jesua 

unto them, He that soweth means himself, 
the good seed is the Son of 
man. 

" The field is the world : " The field signifies the 
the good seed are the chil- material universe ; the chil- 
dren of the kingdom ; but the dren of the kingdom were 
tares are the children of the those to whom the kingdom 
wicked one. was preached, or those who 
had actually embraced the 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 



Ill 



" The enemy that sowed 
ihem is the devil ; the harvest 
is the end of the world ; and 
the reapers are the angels. 



" As therefore the tares are 
gathered and burned in the 
fire, so shall it be in the end 
of this world. 



" The Son of man shall 
send forth his angels, and 
they shall gather out of his 
kingdom all things that of- 
fend, and them which do ini- 
quity ; and shall cast them 
into a furnace of fire ; there 
shall be wailing and gnash- 
ing of teeth. Then shall the 
righteous shine forth as the 
sun, in the kingdom of their 
Father." Matt. xiii. 36-43. 



Gospel ; the tares simply sig- 
nify wicked persons. 

" The devil is that perverse 
and wicked spirit, so opposite 
to the Spirit of Christ, which 
led men to say, 'Lord, Lord !' 
while they performed not the 
will of God. [Thus the tares 
so^vTi, and the devil who 
sowed them, are the same 
thing.] 

" The harvest took place 
at the end of the Mosaic age. 
The ^|igels mean the Roman 
armies, which God sent to 
destroy his rebellious people, 
the Jews. 

" The furnace was the city 
of Jerusalem ; and the right- 
eous, which are to shine as 
the sun, are those Christians, 
who, after the Jews were 
destroyed, would experience 
comparative earthly felicity, 
and have an enlarged enjoy- 
ment, in this life, of Gospel 
peace." 

Notes on Par. p. 52. 



Such, then, is the explanation of the ex- 
planation of Christ, which Universalists give ; 
and are these men to be trusted, when they 
thus impiously presume to correct the Son of 



112 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Godj and in so doing say that he wels not able 
to express his own meaning ? Does he say 
anything about ^'evil principles," '^ Roman 
armies/' or ^^ the destruction of Jerusalem ?" 
If he meant to teach such things, his explana- 
tion of his parable needs more explaining than 
the parable itself. But if the Saviour clearly 
expressed his own meaning, then Universal- 
ists bring upon themselves the deep guilt 
of ^^ handling the Word of God deceitfully," 
and ^^ wresting the Scriptures to their own 
destruction." 

The principles of interpretation which Uni- 
versalists bring to this parable, if applied to 
future life and blessedness, would disprove 
them also ; and the Bible could not teach fu- 
ture life at all. As an example, turn to Luke 
XX. 35 : ^^ But they v^rhich shall be accounted 
worthy to obtain that world, and the resur- 
rection from the dead, neither marry, nor ai'e 
given in marriage ; neither can they die any 
more ; for they are equal unto the angels, and 
are the children of God, being the children 
of the resurrection." 

Universalists, without any hesitation, apply 
this text to the immortal state, and cite it as 
a proof of some of their notions. Yet it has 



u:siVi:iisAL,isM not ov gojd. 113 

no mark of reference to the future life that 
the parable of the tares has not. If the prin- 
ciples of mterpretation which they bring to 
that parable are sound^ I challenge Univer- 
salis ts to prove that this text has any refer- 
ence whatever to a future life. 

Does the phrase ^- worthy to obtain that 
world,' ^ prove it ? But it is said that the word 
^' world '' means nothing but ^^ age/' and the 
phrase ^-this world and the world to come," 
means only ^' the Jewish and Christian age." 
Nothing more, then, can be meant than this : 
^^ they which shall be accounted worthy to 
obtain that age ;" that is, the Christian age. 

Does the phrase '- resurrection from the 
dead," prove a reference to the life to come? 
By no means. On John v. 28, 29, Univer- 
salists argue that coming forth out of the 
graves to a resmTection of life, or of damna- 
tion, does not even prove that the persons 
were dead ; much less, then, can the simple 
phrase '* resmTection of the dead," prove any- 
thing as to a future state of existence, espe- 
cially when limited by the phrase '• that 
world," or age. 

Is such a reference proved by the words 
^* they are equal unto the angels?" But we 

Univer. Q 



114 UNIVERSAJLISM NOT OF GOD. 

are told that the '^ Roman armies are the 
angels." It would not be necessary to go 
out of this world to become equal to such 
angels ! 

Is a reference to future life proved by the 
assertion that, in the resurrection state, mei7 
will ^^neither marry nor be given in mar- 
riage ?" But such a condition of things is 
attainable even in this world. The Romish 
priests have always exhibited this feature of 
the resurrection state ; and it is well knowD 
that, in the community of Shakers, they 
neither marry nor are given in marriage. 

If Universalists will be consistent, they will 
have their heaven in the same state of exist- 
ence where they place their hell. Let a man 
believe in Universalism, and, in their opinion, 
he will have already obtained '' that world, 
and the resurrection of the dead.'' Let him 
do as did the Roman armies, and he will be 
equal to the angels. Then let him attach 
himself to the fraternity of Shakers, and he 
will have obtained that world whose children 
neither marry nor are given in marriage. 

I feel that I should insult the good sense 
of my readers, did I deem it necessary to 
dwell longer on a parable whose meaning has 



UNIVERSALIS^ NOT OF GOD. 115 

been declared by its author, the Son of God 
himself. 

THE JUDGMENT OF THE LAST DAY. 

Matt. XXV. 31-46. 

This passage must be considered among the 
most direct and powerful arguments against 
Universalism that are found in the Bible. It 
was spoken near the close of the Saviom-'s 
life. It foretells the destiny of both the right- 
eous and the wicked. The Son of God is 
here speaking of the nations of the earth. He 
says that they shall be separated, as a shep- 
herd divideth his sheep from the goats. Uni- 
versalists assert that this • was fulfilled when 
Jerusalem was destroyed. It is not so. No 
earthly events can fulfil it. All nations were 
not gathered before the Son of man : but one 
nation \yrs then gathered, and destroyed. 
Christ came not then in person, sitting upon 
the throne of his glory. 

In the Scripture before us, Christ teaches 
iliat iohe7i the Son of man shall come, the fol- 
lowing events will occur. Having all the 
holy angels with him, he will sit upon the 
throne of his glory ; all nations will be gath- 
ered before him : he will separate the right- 



i 16 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

eous from the wicked ; to the one he will 
say, ^' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foun- 
dation of the world ;" to the other, '^Depart 
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels;" then the 
wicked shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment, but the righteous into life eternal. 

No such events have yet occurred. They 
certainly did not attend the destruction of 
Jerusalem. They are yet future, and will 
occur in that day of judgment, unto which 
the ungodly are reserved to be punished 
2 Peter ii. 4-9 ; iii.* 7. 

In no respect did the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem make better the condition of Christians. 
Then temporal condition was made worse. 
The Romans, to whom they were made sub- 
ject after Jerusalem was destroyed, took away 
their few privileges, and in all things proved 
themselves severer oppressors than the Jews 
ever were. They had power to do the Chris- 
tians a deeper injury, and visit upon them a 
more dreadful persecution. 

That the des'truction of Jerusalem broke 
the power of the Jews is true : that it relieved 
the faithful disciples from sufferings is not 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 117 

true. It only changed their oppressors, and 
delivered them over to a more cruel and savage 
foe, who could inflict upon them all the mise- 
ries that the Jews had power to inflict, and 
then add death in its most appalling form 
No student of history can be ignorant of the 
fact, that, for more than two hundred years 
after Jerusalem was destroyed^ the Roman 
power followed the Christians with unrelent- 
ing persecutions, to which history furnishes 
no parallel. In a temporal point of view, the 
destruction of the city of David Avas an injury 
to the disciples. It increased the temporal 
sufi'erings of Christians, and added to their 
Avoes. So far from afl'ording them relief or 
salvation, rest or victory, it opened the flood- 
gates of dreadful anguish. 

If, then, the blessings referred to were to 
be conferred at the downfall of Jerusalem, 
they never came ; and the faithful in Christ 
were of all men most miserable. 

Christ said that, at his coming, his fol- 
bwers should receive the greatest of bless- 
ings — ^' life eternal," '^treasures in heaven," 
^^ resurrection of life," an end of persecution, a 
relief from all conflict and warfare, a perfect 
deliverance from all enemies and from £ill 



118 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

who troubled them, and an admittance into 
the presence of God, and to ^' the glory pre- 
pared for them from the fomidation of the 
world." 

The destruction of Jerusalem did not intro- 
duce the righteous mto life eternal, but into 
deeper misery. The text is yet to be fulfilled 
in the future life. It warns the impenitent 
of that hour in which the assembled miiverse 
shall stand before their Judge, and pass the 
final test. It describes the process, the sen- 
tence, the changeless destiny, of both the 
godly and the ungodly. The one will go 
away into endless life, the other into endless 
punishment. 

The remarks I have ofi'ered upon the inter- 
pretation of Universalists, given to the words 
of Christ in Matthew xxv., will apply to all 
that portion of the Divine teachings which 
they apply to the destruction of Jerusalem. 
To them I refer my readers. Matt. iii. 12 ; v. 
22 ; xi. 22-24 ; xiii. 47-50 ; xvi. 25, 26 ; xxiii. 
33. Mark x. 29, 30. 2 Thess. i. 7-10. Heb. 
X. 26-31. 

TEXTS THAT EXPRESS Oil IMPLY CONDITIONS 

As a Universalist I found the most difliculty 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 119 

vv^ith this class of texts, several of which will 
be introduced in a subsequent chapter. 

1. The sermon on the mount is full of con- 
ditions. 

The Saviour describes those who are blessed 
and accepted of God. and what their final re- 
ward will be. If men are not ^- poor in spi- 
rit/' ^^ meek/' '• merciful/' '^ pure m heart/' 
^' peace-makers/' do not ^^ himger and thirst 
after righteousness," they are cursed ; they 
have no inheritance in heaven ; they shall not 
obtain mercy ; they shall not see God ; they 
shall not be called the children of God ; for 
them there will be no reward in heaven. 
Matt. V. 1-12. Many live and die without 
forming those characters which alone can 
render them blessed. 

2. The Saviour says, •* Lay up for your- 
selves treasures in heaven." *• If ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your 
Father forgive your trespasses." Matt. vi. 15, 
20. Yet many waste their whole life without 
laying up treasure in heaven, aaid live and 
die in the most deadly hatred toward their 
fellow-men. 

3. '' Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 



120 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt, 
xi. 28, 29. Of many who heard him, Jesus 
said, '^ And ye ivill not come to me, that ye 
might have life." John v. 40. Millions, in 
our day, refuse the offer of life, and ^' tn^ad 
under foot the Son of God," and '^ die in their 
sins." Will these have life ? 

4. '^ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in 
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man 
be lifted up ; that whosoever helieveth in him 
should not perish, but have eternal life." John 
iii. 14, 15. And what looking upon the ser- 
pent did to the bodies of the Jews, believ- 
ing on Christ effects in the souls of sinners. 
'^ Whoso believeth in him shall not perish ;" 
all others will. Those who believe, will have 
eternal life ; those who believe not, will have 
eternal death. The condition must be com- 
plied with, if the blessing is to be secured : as 
much so under the Gospel, as when Moses 
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. 

5. ^- He that believeth on the Son, hath 
everlasting life : and he that believeth not the 
Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God 
abideth on him." John iii. 36. Christ came 
not to condemn the world, for the world was 



UNTVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 121 

already condemned. His mission was to offer 
pardon to the guilty, and ^- to save them that 
belioYe." 1 Cor. i. 21. But the condition of 
pardon and salvation is to believe on the Son. 
Those who ^^ believe not are condemned al- 
ready." Upon those who reject the condition, 
the wrath of God settles down, to abide for- 
ever. Millions refuse to believe on the Son 
of God. They die in mibelief They are left 
to that eternal condemnation, to save from 
which Christ came ; but from which they 
cannot be saved, ^- because they believe not 
in the name of the only-begotten Son of 
God." John iii. 16-18. 

6. ^^ Know ye not, that they which run in 
a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize ? 
So run, that ye may obtain. And every man 
that striveth for the mastery is temperate in 
all things. Now they do it to obtain a cor- 
ruptible crown ; but we an incorruptible. I 
therefore so run, not as uncertainly : so fight 
I, not as one that beateth the air. But I keep 
under my body, and bring it into subjection ; 
lest that by any means, when I have preached 
to others, I myself should be a castaAvay." 
1 Cor. ix. 24-27. Paul compares life to a 
race. A crown is to be obtained, but not till 



122 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

the race is run. Men must strive lawfully tc 
win. But will those win who do not run : 
or gain that crown of life for which they do 
not strive ? 

7. ^^ For our light affliction, w^hich is but 
for a momentj worketh for us a far more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 
iv. 17. But how can this be, if the present 
life has no connection with the future ? How 
can Paul, or any one, have a far more exceed- 
ing and eternal weight of glory, if all men 
are to be equal in the resurrection ? 

8. ^^ Wherefore we labor, that, whether 
present" in the body, ^^ or absent" from the 
body, ^^ we may be accepted of him." 2 Cor. 
V. 9. If there were no doubt of his acceptance, 
why lahor to secure that which was already 
certain ? Why preach, toil, and strive, in re- 
ference to this one event, if it were not doubt- 
ful, and there were no certain danger ? But 
there was doubt, there was danger, that he 
should at last '' be found naked." His whole 
life was devoted to one end — to secure his 
acceptance with God ; and he assigns the rea- 
son why he thus labored, in the words which 
follow : ^- For we must all appear before the 
judgment-seat of Christ." v. 10. Would this 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 123 

have been needful, if all men will stand ac- 
cepted, whether they labor to please God or 
not ? Whether they attempt to do his will, 
or sin with a high hand and a blaspheming 
tongue ? 

9. '^ I am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand. I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 
I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid 
up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me 
at that day ; and not to me only, but unto all 
them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 
iv. 6-8. These words suggest the following 
considerations : 

The chief thing that animated and sup- 
ported Paul was the great blessing in store 
for him as soon as he was '^ offered." ^^ There 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." 
'^ The Lord, the righteous Judge^'^^ was to 
give him that crown. It was to be given ^^ at 
that day," the day of judgment. 

He gives us the foundation of his hope in 
Christ. The reasons why he expected that 
the righteous Judge would thus reward him 
at that day, are stated. They are three in 
number — ^^ I have fought a good fight ;" ^^ I 



124 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

have finished my course ;" ^^ I have kept the 
faith." He likens himself to a warrior, a win- 
ner in a race, and a steward to whom • com- 
mitted an important trust. 

A successful warrior must do more than 
enlist ; he must fight manfully, and spare 
neither toil nor blood when the cause of his 
country demands the sacrifice. He who 
should desert the standard of his country in 
the hour of peril, would be doomed to eternal 
infamy. He only Avould deserve or receive a 
crown of victory, who should fight till he con- 
quered, or lay his lifeless body upon the field 
of conflict. 

He is not a successful runner who only 
enters the lists, though he come well prepared : 
nor Avould he secure the prize, if he should 
run on a little way, and then turn back. Bet- 
ter would it be for him had he never entered. 
But he Avho strives laAvfully, runs on, in spite 
of all obstacles, to the end, and reaches the 
goal : — he it is that is crowned. 

Neither is he a good steward who neglects 
his trust, or gives up the treasures when 
assailed. But he who keeps his trust, and 
says to his coming Lord, ^^I have kept the 
treasure/' will hear the blissful sentence. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 125 

^' Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter 
thou mto the joy of thy Lord.'^ 

As #\varrior, Paul had well fought the good 
fight of faith ; and in the battles of his Sove- 
reign, he was about to end his warfare with 
his life. It had ever been his chief labor that, 
in the Chiistian race, he ^' might finish his 
course with joy." Acts xx. 24. His desire 
was granted ; he had run well, and run to the 
end ; and his dying moments were consoled 
and cheered by the truth, that now his ardu- 
ous race was run, and his reward Avas on high. 
As a steward, too, of the faith, and of the 
manifold grace of God, he had been ^- found 
faithful," and with his dying breath he could 
say, in the presence of the Searcher of all 
hearts, ^- 1 have kept the faith." 

But suppose it had not been so. Suppose 
he had found the warfare arduous, and, in 
the time of conflict, had deserted the cross, 
and joined the enemies of his Saviour. Sup- 
pose he had run a short distance in the race, 
and, finding it a sev^ere and painful struggle, 
had turned back, as many had done before 
him, or returned to his former enmity. Or 
suppose that, knowing that the safe-keeping 
of the faith must be attended with great sac- 



126 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

rifices, watchfulness, trials, and persecutions, 
he had abandoned his trust ; or, like Judas, 
betrayed it; what effect would this o^duct 
have upon his future condition, if Universalism 
is true ? Would it make any difference ? 
Would there not still be in reserve for him a 
crown of glory ? Would he not, as Paul the 
traitor, have as high a seat, as loud a song, as 
clear a voice, a diadem as bright, as he now 
will have as Paul the triumphant warrior, 
Paul the successful runner, Paul the faithful 
steward, who resigned his life rather than 
yield up the faith ? Would not he and Judas 
sit side by side upon their thrones of light, in 
the presence of that Holy Being, whose body 
the one betrayed, and whose cause the other 
abandoned into the hands of his enemies ? If 
not, then Universalism is false. And if it was 
true, Paul could have known nothing of it ; 
for his dying breath announces that, had he 
not fought a good fight, finished his course, 
and kept the faith, not only he would not 
have received a crown of life, but at last must 
have been a castaway. 

I am unacquainted with a promise in the 
Bible that has not annexed to it a condition 
expressed or evidently implied. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 127 

I thiiik 110 man can rise from this in- 
vestigation without the firmest convictions 
that BniversaUsm is not of God. It does vio- 
lence to the plainest teachings of Scripture, 
and makes the inspired penman either incom- 
petent or dishonest. It demands the sacrifice 
of the faith of the church, the piety and learn- 
ing of eighteen centuries ; it invites you to 
mock at sin, to laugh at the judgment, and to 
scoflF at threatened danger. It tells its deluded 
votaries, that if they do not enter in at the 
strait gate, if they do not lay up treasm-es in 
heaven, if they do not in this world repent 
and believe, it will be as well with them 
beyond the grave. Though they die thieves 
and drunkards, adulterers and fornicators, they 
shall at last be saved ; and all this though the 
Bible says that such shall not mherit the king- 
dom of God. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. 

Upon the ministers of UniverspJism the 
blood of souls must rest ; their hands are 
stained with the crimson flood. Upon them 
the deep condemnation must fall of ^^ handling 
(he word of God deceitfully," of ^'wresting" 
the Bible to their own destruction, and that 
of others. May they be turned from their 
perilous and ruinous employ ! May God ^^ give 



J 28 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

them repentance to the acknowledging of the 
cruth ; and that they may recover themselves 
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken 
captive by him at his will !" 



CHAPTER VI. 

ARGUMENTS EXAMINED. 
INTRODUCTIOX. 

When we examine the arguments in favoi 
of this system, it is only necessary to notice 
those which are peculiar to Universahsm : 
those which are designed to prove that all 
men will be saved. Much that is called Uni- 
versahsm is common to many forms of error. 
Those parts which S3anpathize with Atheism 
and Deism, are already met in Natural Theo- 
logy and in our Treatises upon the Evidences 
of Christianity. A part of the system is iden- 
tified with those who claim to find in the 
Bible false readings, or translations, or who 
base their arguments on false interpretations ; 
the answer to whom is found in the defences 
of the inspiration and authenticity of the Bible, 
and in works upon biblical criticism. A pai't 



UNIVERSAL.ISM NOT OF GOD. 129 

of Universalism is- a revival of the old errors 
of Simon Magus. Another part embraces the 
old exploded errors of Unitarianism, with its 
cavils and rash assertions. Another part em- 
braces almost every form of destructive error 
that has sprung up by the wayside as the car 
of truth has travelled onward from generation 
to generation. To each of these errors and 
notions a reply has been furnished by those 
who have defended truth and assailed error 
in all ages of the chm'ch. When vv^e speak 
of the arguments in favor of Universalism, v/e 
refer to those which touch the distmctive 
features of Universalism — the notion that all 
will be saved. 

All candid minds must be struck Y\dth the 
meagre amount of proof that Universalists 
adduce from the Bible to sustain then faith. 
With the principles of interpretation that they 
bring to the Bible, one vv^ould suppose that a 
thousand proof-texts might easily be produced. 
The work of its advocates is, so to v/rest the 
Bible that it may seem to teach Universalism. 
But both their principles and professions avail 
them little in -their work. Few are the proof- 
texts that they dare rely upon, or present to 
an intelligent mind. A few years ago, the 



130 UNIYERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

sect felt the need of a popular tract, wh'ich 
should be a compendium of the scriptural 
argument m favor of Universalism. This was 
supplied in a tract, which was announced as 
containing on.e hundred scriptural arguments 
in favor of the system. But the author could - 
not find one hundred distinct passages of 
Scripture which even he would dare quote as 
proof-texts. He has compiled what he calls 
one hundred arguments. They are the most 
forcible and popular that the sect emplo3^ 
They include very nearly all that any Uni- 
versalist ever quotes from the Bible to support 
his faith. To make up one hundi'edj some 
texts are divided into three parts, and others 
into two ; each part making a separate argu- 
ment. Some are repeated several times, and 
each repetition makes a new argument. 
There is added frequently an inference by the 
compiler, and each inference is offered as a 
scriptural proof or argument. In this way a 
hundred arguments are secured to prove that 
Universalism is the very doctrine the whole 
Bible was given to teach. 

Most of the proofs fi'om the Bible upon 
which Universalism rests are irrelevant, hav- 
ing nothing to do with the subject, as the 



UXIVERS-ILISM NOT OF GOD. 131 

coiitext proves ; and others, so far from teach- 
ing that all men Avill be saved, teach, in their 
proper connection, most emphatically another 
doctrine. 

The glarmg inconsistency of the system, 
and the recklessness of the men to whom the 
author of the system has committed the preach- 
ing of his faith, are m no way so vividly dis- 
played as in connection with the defence of 
Universalism. Bring against that system those 
parts of the Old Testament which assm'e the 
sinner that he shall die ; that he shall rise m 
the future world to shame and everlasting con- 
tempt, and be banished forever from the pres- 
ence and favor of God. unless he repents and 
turns to God : and Universalists will attempt 
to evade their force by asserting that the Old 
Testament does not refer at all to a future 
life, and that all its promises and threatenings 
are limited to this world. Yet by far the 
larger part of the scriptural proofs upon which 
Universalism rests is taken from that very 
book of which Universalists assert that it does 
not refer to the future at all. If endless death 
be not in the Old Testament, endless life is 
not there. If all the threatenings are confined 
to this world, so are all the promises. With 



133 UNIVERSAL.ISM NOT OF GOD. 

this marked absurdity in their proofs, Univer- 
saHsts call upon an intelligent community to 
receive their system as the one revealed in the 
word of God. When it is said in the Reve- 
lation, that all men are bound to the judg- 
ment, and that the wicked will be cast into a 
lake that burneth with j&re and brimstone, 
from which the smoke of their torment will 
ascend forever, Universalists reply, that the 
Revelation had its fulfilment some eighteen 
hundred years ago, Avhen Jerusalem was 
sacked by the Romans. And then, as if to 
show that they are blind leaders of the blind, 
they gravely adduce a part of this very book 
to prove that all men will be saved, and find 
the Revelation to be the treasure-house of 
some of the most important and popular proof- 
texts they present. With great power does 
the apostle describe such men, ^^ as opposing 
themselves, being taken captive by Satan at 
his will." 

AUGUMENTS. 

Argument 1. Genesis iii. 15 : ^' I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman, and 
between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise 
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." 



UNIVERSALTSM NOT OF GOD. 133 

Reply. In what -wrj does this passage 
prove the salvation of all men? It asserts 
that the head of the serpent shall be bruised ; 
but what does this prove ? It begins and ends 
vrith the victory of the seed of the woman 
over the seed of the serpent, but says nothing 
of the doom of the incorrigible. Universalists 
say that to bruise the head of the serpent is to 
conquer him, and deliver all who are subject 
to his power. But v/hat will become of the 
millions vv^ho have lived and died m sm before 
this event occurs. They cannot go where 
Christ has gone. John viii. 24. Paul informs 
us that all that knov/ not God, and that obey 
not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall 
be punished with everlasting destruction from 
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory 
of his power. 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. 

Moses announces the destruction of the 
serpent. Paul announces the destruction of 
impenitent men, who shall be punished with 
everlasting destruction. Does this language 
intimate that all men Vv^ill be saved? Is it 
not plain that the text has no reference to 
universal salvation ? 

Arg. 2. God has promised to bless all 
nations in the seed of Abraham : that seed is 



134 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Christ ; that blessing is spiritual : therefore all 
nations will be saved. 

Reply. It is true, that in the fulness of 
timCj all nations will be blessed in Christ ; no 
one exclusively favored, no one necessarily 
excluded, for he has made no difference be- 
tween the Jew and the Greek, the bond and 
the free. But nations may be blessed, and 
yet individuals live and perish in sin. A 
nation may be free, and yet thousands belong- 
ing to it may be bound in prison. A nation 
may be intelligent and refined, while many 
individuals in it are rude, uncultivated and 
ignorant. The storehouses of a nation may 
groan with the abundance of food within 
them, and yet persons with their eyes upon 
such granaries may perish for lack of bread. 
Some out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and 
people, John saw upon Mount Zion before 
the throne of God. But all the individuals in 
those nations were not there. The seed of 
Abraham alone are to be blessed in Christ : 
^^ If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, 
and heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. 
29. The Gospel is to be preached to all peo- 
ple. By many it may be trampled under foot^ 
and the blood of the covenant accounted an 
unholy thing ; but when men believe and 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 



135 



obey the Gospel, they become the seed of 
Abraham, and are adopted mto the family of 
God. 

Arg. 3. '- The Bible contains universal 
promises. It assures us that God has made a 
feast for all people, and sa^^s that from all eyes 
tears shall be wiped awa}'.'' 

Reply. God has made no universal promise 
Avithout annexing thereto a condition, compli- 
ance with which is mdispensable to the obtain- 
ing of the promise. God has made a feast ; 
man must eat thereof to be blessed by the 
provision. God has opened a fountain ; man 
must wash in it to be clean. God has throAvn 
up a pathway to heaven : man must leave the 
path of death, and walk in the strait and nar- 
row way, if he v.^ould secure life eternal. The 
promise in Isaiah xxv. 8-11, to which the 
argument refers, while it proves that none are 
excluded from the offer, also assures us that 
many will miss the blessing promised, ^j 
rejecting the invitation they at the last would 
be trodden doAvn, ^- as straw is trodden down 
for the dunghill;" while the people of God 
alone were to have their tears wiped away, 
and '• their rebuke taken from off the face of 
the whole earth.*' 



136 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Aug. 4. The oath of God, that every knee 
shall bow, and that all things shall be subject 
to the Son, implies the obedience and salva- 
tion of all men. Isaiah, xlv. 23, 24. 

Reply. All who believe the Bible, believe 
that all things are to bow to Christ, and be 
subject to him. But it does not follow that 
the subjection is a willing one, or that the 
subjected are reconciled or blest. There is a 
subjection of conquest, as well as of love. 
Nations may ^deld to an overwhelming supe- 
riority of force, while the spirit of rebellion 
and opposition remains unsubdued. Men often 
yield to the arm of power, not because sub- 
mission is welcome, but because resistance is 
useless. The daring pirate treads the scaffold 
without offering resistance, because compelled 
to submit. The bold villain bows to the dis- 
cipline of the prison, and allows the grated 
door to close between him and liberty, be- 
cause he cannot avoid it. Devils are subject 
to Christ ; they believe and tremble ; 3^et are 
they devils still. Fallen angels are subject to 
Christ, yet are they not blest or reconciled. 
They are subject because, confined in chains 
and darkness, they await their final doom in 
the judgment of the great day. While it is 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 137 

called an " accepted time " men are com- 
manded to repent, to bow the knee to Jesus 
Christ. Now, they may bow as willing sub- 
jects, and take the pardon Avhich Christ offers. 
If they bow not as subjects, then in the judg- 
ment must they bow as foes. ^- As rebels 
without hope, must they lie beneath the feet 
of earth's mighty Conqueror." '^ He ^nust 
reign, till he hath put all enemies under his 
feet." 1 Cor. xv. 25. To teach this truth 
was the Scripture, by which the Universalist 
argument is supported, given. St. Paul asserts 
that the passage in Isaiah xlv. 23, 24, is to 
be fulfilled in the judgment, when every man 
shall give an account of himself unto God, 
and when the unbelieving shall be ashamed 
and confounded. Rom. xiv. 10, 11. 

Arg. 5. God has said that he will not cast 
off the sinner forever. If no one is cast off 
forever, then must all ultimately be restored. 
Lam. iii. 31. 

Reply. It would be a sufficient reply to 
this argument to say, that God has explicitly 
declared, that, if men forsake him, he will 
cast them off forever. 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. The 
one declaration is to be credited as much as 
the other. The passage in Lamentations has 



138 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

no reference to God's purpose or pleasure in 
respect to the race of man in the future life. 
The people to whom the prophet referred, 
were at that moment cast off. They were in 
captivity in a strange land. That bondage 
was to cease ; the days of their momiiing and 
captivity to cease ; and they to be restored to 
their own land and city. It was at that time, 
and in respect to that captivity, that those 
people were not to be forever cast off. But 
this gives no assurance to wicked men, that 
God will not at some time cast them forever 
from his presence. Nor does it contradict 
those repeated assertions in the Holy Book, 
that all who forsake God and persist in their 
rebellion, shall be cast off forever, and shall 
go away into everlasting punishment, and 
shall be punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
glory of his power. 

Aug. 6. By the mouth of all God's holy 
prophets has the restitution of all things been 
spoken of. Acts iii. 21. 

Reply. The restitution of all things of 
which the prophets spake, and the salvation 
of all men of which Universalists speak, are 
two very different things. The restitution 
was to be effected in part by John the Baptist ; 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 139 

though no Universahst Avould assert that John 
was the saviour of all men. '^ Elias must 
first come and restore all things," not save all 
men. Matt. xvii. 11. This restoration, in the 
context, is called the times of refreshing from 
the presence of the Lord, v. 19, to enjoy 
which, men must repent and turn to God ; to 
neglect which, exposed each soul to destruc- 
tion. Acts iii. 19-23. 

Arg. 7. God wills the salvation of all men. 
1 Tnu. ii. 4. 

Reply. In the same sense he wills their 
repentance and their reception of the truth. 
Yet men live in impenitence, and die Avithout 
coming to the knowledge of the truth. If 
men may resist God's will in respect to repent- 
ance, they may also in respect to salvation. 
God is not Avilling that any should perish ; 
yet men do perish. It was the will of Christ 
that the Jews should be saved. •• How oft 
would I — ^but ye would not.*' God calls upon 
all to be saved ; for all has he made provision ; 
upon all does he call to repent ; upon all Avho 
perish must the whole blame of their destruc- 
tion be found. 

Arg. 8. God is the Saviour of all men. 
1 Tim. iv. 10. 



140 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Reply. This declares a present truth : 
^' God is the Saviour of all men." If all men 
are now saved, notwithstanding all the woe, 
and inequality, and sin of this life, then may 
all the destructions set forth in the Bible be 
fulfilled in eternit}^, and still God be the Sav- 
iour of all, then as now. The accompan}'- 
ing clause, '• especially of those that believe," 
proves that, while in a certain sense God is 
the Saviour of all men, there is a higher sense 
in which he is not. He is not the eternal 
Saviom' of all men. Paul, the author of the 
text under consideration, asserts, that Christ 
became the author of eternal salvation unto 
all them that obey him. Heb. v. 9. 

Arg. 9. All who die in Adam will be made 
alive in Christ. 1 Cor. xv. 22. 

Reply. This passage reveals the certainty 
of the resurrection of all men — a truth denied 
in the apostolic age. But it asserts nothing 
in favor of the salvation of all. It says that 
all shall live again : but reveals not the char- 
acter or destiny of the race. Universalists 
have not done their work when they prove 
that all shall live again. That truth no Chris- 
tian denies. They are to prove that in that 
life all will be equal, all will be happy ; that 



UNIVERSALIS3I NOT OF GOD. 141 

the good and the evil, the just and the unjust, 
Judas as well as Paul, will all have one resur- 
rection and one destiny. The passage quoted 
asserts no such doctrine. With the context, 
it clearly implies the contrary. '- For as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 
made alive — but every man in his own order ^''^ 
according to his character. ^' He that is un- 
just, or unholy," will be so still. He will 
be among those ^' enemies *' which Christ will 
put eternally ^' under his feet.*" According to 
their character will men, at the command of 
Christ, come out of their graves ^- to ever- 
lasting life, or to shame and everlasting con- 
tempt." 

Arg. 10. God is love : he cannot punish 
men with everlasting death. 1 John iv. 8. 

Reply. God is love : it is a present truth ; 
it is a fact this moment, and has been since 
the creation, as much as it ever will be in 
eternity. He can punish men all the days 
of this life, and be a God of love. He may 
punish them all the days of the next^ and b3 
a God of love, there as here. Men are now 
subject to sin, woe and death, though God is 
love. If such suflering is consistent wilh love 
for a day, it can be so forever. If he cannot 



142 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

punish men in the future world because he is 
love, then he cannot punish them now, for he 
is even now love. But he does punish them 
here ; then may he hereafter. If the inflic- 
tion of misery cannot be made consistent with 
love, it may be inflicted nevertheless. It is 
inflicted here, on the Universalist theory : 
hence it may be so hereafter. For thousands 
of 3^ears God has been doing what this argu- 
ment asserts he cannot do. Human misery 
here exists in spite of the fact that God is 
love ; it may so exist in the life that is to 
come. The benevolence of a government, 
and the love of a parent, are seen as perfectly 
in the punishment of the guilty, as in reward- 
ing the good and the obedient. The love of 
God acts in perfect harmony with his justice. 
It will have as much to do with casting men 
into hell, as it vrill in introducing men to 
realms of bliss. 

Arg. 11. The omnipotence of God is a 
2oledge that all will be happy. He can save 
men from sin and woe in the future, if he 
will. If he does not, he is not good. 

E.EPLY. God is as omnipotent in respect to 
the ewl of this life, as he can be in respect to 
that of the next. He has all the ability to 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 143 

save from woe at the present time that he 
will have for the future. He is as able to 
make this life a paradise as the life beyond 
the grave. If the non-existence of universal 
happiness in the eternal world is a proof, 
either that God is not omnipotent, or not good, 
then is it equally true in regard to this world. 
God may be both powerful and good ,• and 
yet allow men, both here and hereafter, who 
sow a harvest of death, to reap the same, and 
eat the fruits of then own doing. Thus the 
argument falls to the ground. For all that 
an omnipotent God may do in this world, he 
may do in the next. Sin and woe are per- 
mitted here, and they may be there. 

Arg. 12. The paternal character of God is 
a pledge that all men will be saved. 

Reply. It is equally a pledge, that creatures 
made holy would be kept so. But were they 
so kept ? Did they not sin and perish ? Be- 
fore the first transgression, God was as much 
the Father of men as he ever will be. It is 
but reasonable to suppose, that, if his paternal 
character Avas pledged to save men from mis- 
ery hereafter, it Avas equally pledged to keep 
men from sin at first. It did not keep Adam 
from rebellion, nor save hrni from its curse. 



144 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Before men suffered the miseries of this life, 
God was their Father. Did that character save 
men from the woe and wretchedness of this 
hfe ? Did it arrest the deluge ? save Sodom 
from the fiery flood ? or the world from wrath 
and desolation? The paternal character of 
God is not pledged to save men from falling 
into sin ; how then can it be a pledge that 
men shall be saved from the results of sin ? 
If it keeps no one from misery now, what as- 
surance does it afford that it ever will? All 
that God may now do consistently with his 
paternal character, he may ever do. God's 
being the Father of all men does not imply 
that he will save them in their sins. Men are 
aliens. They must possess the spirit of adop- 
tion before they can cry, ^^ Abba, Father." 

Aug. 13. The Gospel, that it may be good 
tidings to all men, must convey the idea that 
all will be saved, and not the doctriiie of eter- 
nal death. 

Reply. One might as well say of a pardon, 
because it is good tidings to a prisoner, that 
it cannot imply imprisonment or guilt. With- 
out the guilt and punishment, vvhat would a 
pardon be worth ? As well might it be said, 
that the announcement of a cure for a fear- 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 145 

fully fatal disease could not convey the idea 
of sickness or death, because such an an- 
nouncement must needs be joyous ; or that 
the news of peace could not imply desolation 
and carnage, because the proclamation is y\rel- 
come to all. The value of the Gospel, as 
revealing pardon to the repenting sinner, is 
found in the fact, that it comes to save from 
eternal death. It does not create that death. 
It is not responsible for it. Pardon does not 
create the crime, or the penalty. The medi- 
cine is not responsible for the disease, nor its 
deadly character. It vvras man's state of con- 
demnation which called forth the Gospel, and 
gives it its value. If men disbelieve the Gos- 
pel, it does not save them : they were con- 
demned already. When men despise the 
Gospel, it leaves them to perish. As the mes- 
senger who stands at the cell of the prisoner, 
urging him to accept the proifer of mercy 
which he brings, withdraws the offer of par- 
don when he has been insulted and his me- 
diation despised, so does the Gospel. It calls 
upi3n all to live ; if they will not hear, they 
but increase their condemnation, and justice 
must take its course. It is a savor of life or 
death to alJ men. 

Uoir«r. i A 



146 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Aug. 14. Endless death, as the penalty for 
shij defeats the end of punishment, which is 
the good of the punished. 

Reply The end of punishment is not al- 
ways the good of the punished. If the guilty 
are restored, it is well ; if not, the infliction 
of the penalty is not in vain. The people of 
the old world were not drowned for their own 
benefit. Sodom and Gomorrah were not con- 
demned to an eternal overthrow to make their 
inhabitants virtuous and happy. We do not 
imprison a man for life to make him better ; 
nor execute the murderer to transform him 
into an innocent man. We punish men be- 
cause they transgress ; their doom is a warn- 
ing to the ungodly, bringing a restraint upon 
evil doers. 2 Peter ii. 4, 6. 

Arg. 15. Punishment must be corrective 
to be just. It is not merciful when it fails to 
reform. 

Reply. It is not the sole object of punish- 
ment to reform. Maintenance of law and 
order, the security of property and life, are 
the ends sought by public justice. Men are 
seldom made better by imprisonment ; yet 
shall the desperate and hardened be turned 
loose upon the community, because they are 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 147 

incorrigible ? Punishment is not cruel, it is 
not useless, even when it fails to amend- 
There is in it a restraining power which pro- 
tects the whole nation. Its value in regard 
to all the interests of society can never be 
known this side the judgment-seat of Christ. 

Aug. 16. The punishment of endless death 
for the sins of this short life is disproportion- 
ate. No man can deserve such a penalty ; 
therefore it must be unjust. 

Reply. How do these reasoners know how 
much evil sin has done in the universe of God ? 
or how much punishment it deserves ? We 
know what one sin has done : how its influ- 
ence has travelled on for six thousand years, 
working in our Avorld to the present hour. 
How long will it be just to punish sin ? Let 
the Universalist say. Suppose a man should 
sin all the days of this life ; may he be punish- 
ed all the days of this life ? Universalists an- 
swer, Yes. Then if he sins all the days of 
the next life, may he not justly suffer during 
all those days? Universalists themselves be 
mg judges, the punishment is just, the penalt} 
propoitionate. The sinner will then be left 
to himself. No gracious calls will arrest his 
steps. No offers of mercy will invite him to 



148 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 

turn from his evil way ! All restraint will be 
taken off, and he will go on from gloom to 
gloom. He will reap what he sows. For him 
no day-star of hope will shine, no space for 
repentance be found. The man who wilJ 
waste this mortal state of probation, who will 
live in sin, and die in impenitence, would 
waste another, if given to him. '^ In thy life- 
time thou receivedst thy good things,*' was 
the overwhelming reply of Abraham to the 
rich man's impassioned entreaty for relief 
from his place of torment. A '' death with- 
out mercy," and a '^ punishment sorer " than 
that, was threatened by Paul to all who 
^' trampled under foot the Son of God." Heb. 
X. 26-31. 

Arg. 17. God is good to all, impartially 
good, unchangeably good : hence all men 
must be happy. 

Reply. God is as good in this present state 
of things as he ever will be. In no other 
sense than that which now holds true, will he 
be good to all men ; for the argument presup- 
poses the immutability of God. It is evident 
that universal goodness leads to no results in 
this life, such as Universalists say it will lead 
to in the next. It does not now lead to uni- 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 149 

versal happiness : all men are not happy. It 
does not lead to equality of condition : all men 
are not equal in the gifts of intellect, fortune^ 
or health. It does not lead to an equality of 
nations : one has the Bible, another is sunk in 
the most degrading superstition ; one is in- 
telligent and refined, another barbarous and 
rude ; one is blest with civil and religious free- 
dom, another is ground to the earth by the 
iron heel of despotic power : one abounds in. 
food, thousands in another die for lack of 
bread. The argument assumes the universal 
goodness of God as a present fact ; and yet all 
are not happj^, all are not equal. It assumes 
that God is unchangeable ; so then must the 
same difference of condition, the same inequal- 
ity, always continue while God shall endure. 
If he is not now good, the argument based 
upon that supposed goodness is lost. If he is 
now good, then must all those distinctions in 
character and condition exist in the future 
state, which the Bible so clearly reveals. 

Arg. 18. The character of God will prevent 
his destroying the Vv^ork of his own hands. It 
is true, man is a sinner ; but the power and 
goodness of God will prevent any man from 
going to hell. 



150 UNIYERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Reply. Did it save the old world, when a 
flood SAvept aAvay the ungodly ? Did it spare 
guilty Sodom, m whom not five righteous 
men were found ? Would it have saved the 
people of Ninevehj or averted their fate, if 
they had not repented before God ? God will 
by no means clear the guilty, who will not 
repent. All he has said will be done, whether 
it relate to the judgments of this life, or the 
loss of the ^'n hell. 

Arg. It. man can be happy in heaven 

with the knowledge that any are in hell. But 
as heaven is a happy place, all will be happy. 

Reply. Can no man enjoy freedom, with 
the knowledge that many are in prison ? Can 
no man enjoy life, because the murderer is 
hung ? Cannot the fruits of temperance and 
industry be relished, because the intemperate 
and indolent suffer ? The argument is absurd 
and false in respect to this life : it will be 
equally so in respect to the life that is to come. 
No man is glad that evil men abound and do 
wickedly. But when they are detected, all 
respond to the necessity of the punishment. 
We are alarmed when the incendiary is abroad, 
arid the man of blood goes undetected. We 
rejoice when the murderer is taken. We 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 151 

know he has forfeited Kfe. We wish justice 
to take its course, and the more pure we are, 
the more we acquiesce in the just doom of the 
guilty. In the eternal world, the mouth of 
the guilty will be shut; and the redeemed 
will say, ^^It is well!" As Israel rejoiced in 
their deliverance, though Pharaoh's host per- 
ished ; so in heaven will the full chorus go 
up, though many judge themselves unworthy 
of eternal life. , -. 

Arg. 30. Men are fully .^.^: -^ed in this 
world for all the sins they commit ; and in 
justice they cannot be exposed to further 
punishment in the future state. 

Reply. The Bible does not teach that this 
life is a state of complete retribution ; it repre- 
sents it rather as one of discipline and proba- 
tion. It is compared to a race, in which a 
man keeps on to the end before he is rewarded ; 
to a stewardship and a warfare, which imply 
respectively that the master must return, and 
the war close, before a just estimate can be 
put upon the case. The Bible does not refer 
us to this world as the theatre in which the 
moral government of God is vindicated ; but 
it refers to the day of judgment as the time 
in which men shall '^ turn and discern between 



153 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

the righteous and the wicked, between him 
that serveth God, and him that serveth him 
not." In this life, the innocent sufTer with, 
and often more than, the guilty. Those sins 
which lie at the bottom of all crime, the sins 
of the eye, the heart, the imagination, cannot 
be known, much less punished, here. The 
deeds of men live long after the actor is dead. 
Until the work ceases, no one can be ade- 
quately rewarded. As men often do more 
evil after their death than while they lived, 
they cannot be rewarded according to their 
works in this life. Conscience does not 
fully punish men. It may prompt or ad- 
monish ; but it may be seared. Its pulsa- 
tions grow more and more feeble, as men 
grow bold in sin. It may be wrong. It has 
sanctioned all the persecutions for the truth's 
sake from Saul of Tarsus down to the present 
hour. Law cannot secure to men in this life 
an adequate punishment, nor secure the ends 
of perfect justice. Many are above law j many 
escape detection, or through the imperfection 
of evidence escape the penalt]/". The Bible 
emphatically declares, that ungodly men and 
fallen spirits are '^ reserved unto the day of 
judgment to be punished." 2 Peter ii, 4-9> 



TTNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 153 

Arg. 21. God's word will not fail. It was 
sent to save the world — the world will be 
saved. Isaiah Iv. 10, 11. 

Reply. If man has nothing to do to prepare 
the ground for the seed, and to secure bread 
for the eater, then salvation is unconditional. 
We have here an analogy between the influ- 
ence of the snow and rain, and the influence 
of the Gospel. ^- As the snow and ram, so 
shall my word be." Where the one is limited 
by human neglect, the other is. In whatever 
sense the former demands labor and diligence 
to insure seed for sowing and bread for eating, 
the latter requhes human exertion and obedi- 
ence to secm'e salvation. 

Has man nothing to do to obtain the bless- 
ings v/hich attend the snov/ and rain ? Will 
the earth be fruitful, and give seed to the 
sower and bread to the eater, if man folds his 
hands in indolence ? Will corn grov/ upon 
the mountains, or grain wave in the valleys, 
if man performs no labor ? May the farmer 
recline all da3r upon his couch, or spend his 
months in folly and pleasm^e : and when his 
industrious neighbor reaps a golden harvest, 
may he put in his sickle, and reap what he 
never sowed? Can he gather a crop, who 



154 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

never planted ? Will he find food without 
labor, because God has promised that the 
snow and rain shall never fail to water the 
earthj and give bread to the eater ? 

Yet to this absurd conclusion must we 
come, if the argument of Universalists is 
sound. For, on their supposition, man has 
no labor to perform, no fallow ground to 
break up, no sweat to spend for bread. 

Were all men to cease from labor, God 
would be faithful ; the sun would shine, the 
seasons roll around, and the rain from heaven, 
and the feathery snow, would fall till time 
should be no more. But the disobedient and 
unfaithful would still be unblessed. For, to 
secure the fruits of the earth, not only must 
the showers fall, but the ground must be 
broken up and prepared ,• painful labor must 
be borne, and diligence and care alone can 
obtain what God has promised. The indo- 
lent or unfaithful will have no share in the 
promise. They will adopt the lamentation 
of old, ^^ The harvest is past, the summer is 
ended, and we are not saved." 

'^ For the earth, which drinketh in the rain 
that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth 
herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 155 

receiveth blessing from God. But that which 
beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is 
nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to be 
burned." Heb. vi. 7, 8. 

In this passage, the human family is likened 
unto the earth, wa,tered by the rain that com- 
eth oft upon it. A part is dressed or culti- 
vated ; this bringeth forth fruit for man, and 
is blessed of God. Another part is neglected, 
and, though watered by the same rain, and 
warmed by the beams of the same sun, it is 
rejected ; it ^^ is nigh unto cursing," and its 
^^ end is to be burned." Sp with men. Those 
who obey the truth are blessed of God ; those 
who are disobedient are rejected and accursed. 

The same sun that warms and vivifies the 
well-tilled field, hardens the barren soil. The 
same moisture that makes the well-prepared 
ground abundantly fruitful, makes the neg- 
lected land a waste of thorns and briers, whose 
end is to be burned. 

God's word is now ready to do his bidding. 
Already has it blessed men in a thousand 
ways. But if men harden their hearts, and 
refuse to obey the truth, they cannot be saved. 
Nor will the word return void. It will have 
some efiect. Like the rain which makes the 



156 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

land a fruitful field, or a spot upon which fuel 
for the flames is found — like the sun, that 
either invigorates or hardens the soil — the 
Gospel, which is '^ the power of God unto sal- 
vation to every one that believeth," becomes 
^^a savor of death unto death" to all who 
reject it. 2 Cor. ii. 14-16. 

Arg. 22. Those declarations in the Bible 
which assert that God '' is merciful," that 
^^his tender mercies are over all his works," 
and that '-his mercy endureth forever," prove 
that Universalism is true. 

Reply. Upon no subject have men so vague 
and erroneous notions as upon mercy. All 
believe in the mercy of God. But what that 
is, to v/hat extent and under Avhat cii'cum- 
stances it may be exercised, and what may 
hinder its interposition, few seem to under- 
stand- And Universalists, when they talk 
about the mercy of God, have evidently no 
just conception of the subject on which they 
speak. They think they may indulge in sin, 
live in all lust, and die in crime, and at last 
be saved, because God is plenteous in mercy. 

But what is mercy ? It is not merely good- 
ness. Goodness led to the creation of angels 
and men, and to the making of provision for 



L^NIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 157 

their happiness. But mercy has nothing to 
do with innocent beings. It can be exercised 
only towards the guilty and undeserving. 
Where no guilt is, there can be no mercy. 
Goodness blesses the innocent ; mercy, the 
guilty, and only the guilty. 

It is not justice. It is the opposite. Jus- 
tice deals with men as they deserve ; mercy, 
contrary to their deserts. Justice by no means 
clears the guilty; but mercy shows favor 
•where punishment is due. To release a pris- 
oner at the expiration of his term of imprison- 
ment, is not mercy ; he can demand liberation 
as a right. He has satisfied the demand of 
the law, and is entitled to a discharge as an 
act of simple justice. In these cases there is 
no room for mercy or grace. Mercy, then, is 
pardoning power, or favor shown to guilty 
men. The innocent do not need it ; for 
mercy always implies ill-desert in those w^ho 
receive it. The words of penitence are ever 
a confession of sin. No man would claim 
exemption from punishment on the ground 
of mercy, who could appeal to justice for 
protection. 

Universalists affirm that they have the only 
worthy and expanded views of Divine mercy. 



158 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

They charge others with making God all jus- 
tice. But with them, to what does mercy 
amount ? They are shocked at the idea of 
future woe. They assure us that men do not 
deserve hell ; and God is too merciful to send 
men there. What ! God too merciful to send 
men to hell, when they do not deserve to go 
there ? Absurd ! There can be no mercy in 
the case. 

If men go to hell, it will, on Universalist 
grounds, be for want of justice in God, not 
for want of mercy. What great thing is it to 
save men, who are almost, if not quite, inno- 
cent? who deserve little or no punishment 
from the hand of God ? Is it any great stretch 
of skill for a physician to cure a headache 
which a night's slumber would have removed, 
and which would have done no great harm 
if not removed at all ? If it would be unjust 
to cast men into hell, it is no mercy to save 
them from it. What have men to do with 
m.ercy who can claim exemption from hell on 
the ground of justice ? 

Again : it is said that men are punished as 
much as they deserve in the present life ; and 
God is too merciful to send them away into 
everlasting punishment. But what room is 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GC D. 159 

there for mercYj when the criminal has in his 
own person answered the demands of the 
\a.w ? Can you pardon a man who has served 
out his term of imprisonment ? Will he thank 
the officer for his clemency in opening the 
prison door, when it could laivfully be kept 
closed no longer ? He wants no mercy: he 
has satisfied the claims of justice, and can 
demand his liberation as a right. If Univer- 
salism be true, and men are all punished as 
much as they deserve, v/hat has mercy to do 
in the salvation of om' race ? You cannot 
pardon a criminal who is punished to the 
extent of the law. A physician cannot cure 
a man who has healed himself You cannot 
save a person from drowning who by his own 
exertions has reached the shore. A governor 
cannot remit the penalty, after it has been 
fully executed upon the convict. And yet 
we are told that these are the only worthy 
views of mercy ! A sinner becomes his own 
saviom\ Compassion, grace, love, and for- 
giveness, are swept away by these exclu- 
sive magnifiers of the Divme mercy, which 
turns out to be an empty pretence. Nothing 
remains but stern, exact, and even-handed 
justice. 



160 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

If God is a God of mercy, then there is 
guilt, deep and awful, from which mercy 
offers to save men. Its conditions are plainly 
written: ''Let the wicked forsake his way, 
and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and 
let him return unto the Lord, and he will 
have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for 
he will abundantly pardon." Isaiah Iv. 7. If, 
then, the wicked do not abandon their ways 
and their thoughts, and turn unto the Lord, 
he will not have mercy upon him, nor will he 
abundantly pardon. That the mercy of God 
may be exercised towards some, and at the 
same time others be destroyed, we learn from 
Ps£dm cxxxvi. 13-20. 

Such, in substance, are the arguments in 
defence of Universalism. These are the prin- 
cipal reasons, changed, repeated and modified, 
which support the idea that all men will be 
saved. Take up any treatise upon the sub- 
ject, and you will find one or more of these 
proofs, which I have examined, constituting 
the main defence. 

I have thus reviewed the principal argu- 
ments upon which Universalism rests. I have 
also presented the reasons which prove these 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 161 

arguments to be misound. Should we con- 
sider the system without reference to its 
alarming moral tendency, and regard it sim- 
ply as a system to be received or rejected as 
the arguments advanced in its favor did or did 
not support it, we should find an unpTejudiced 
public rendering the verdict, ^^ Thou art 
Tveiehed, and art found wanting-. *' 

It must, I thhik, be apparent to all, that 
Universalism deserves no consideration as a 
religious system. Its claims are founded in 
sophistry and assumption, and supported by 
the most violent WTesting and palpable per- 
version of the word of God. It is a delusion 
of the most fatal kind, and destructive of the 
choicest good of man. All Vv^ho trust in it 
fatally mjure their ov/n souls. The claims 
of Universalism are umounded. It claims to 
be of God, and yet preaches as did. the serpent 
in Eden. It clamis to be the Gospel of Christ, 
and yet was not knovvai till nearly eighteen 
hundred years after the ascension of the 
Saviour. It claims to be the doctrine of the 
Bible, and yet contradicts the whole tenor of 
its teaching, makes the threatenings of the 
Bible a mockery, the mission and death of 
Jesus a pretence, and proves the inspired 

Uni\er. i i 



163 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

penmen to be nicompetent or dishonest. It 
claims to seek the good of man, and yet, so 
far from turning the transgressor from the 
error of his way, it ^^ strengthens the hands 
of the wicked, that he should not return from 
his wicked Avay and live ;" assuring men that 
without holiness they will see the Lord, and 
that, however they may live or die, none will 
be excluded from heaven. 

But let us not be deceived. The Bible 
teaches that the unholj?^, the vile, the unbe- 
lieving, will be punished with eternal exclu- 
sion from the presence of God ; that the holy, 
the pure, and the believing, only, can hope 
for eternal salvation ; that all who reject 
Christ, shall not see life, but perish. Can 
you, then, trust the delusions of Universalism ? 
Can you cling to a system having such ten- 
dencies and such feeble proofs? Can you 
build your hopes of eternal happiness upon a 
foundation so sandy, so certain to fail when 
most it is needed, and to give way when too 
late to repair or rebuild ? 

If you have no confidence in the system, 
give it no place, no, not for an hour ; but say 
everywhere, to all persons, on all occasions — 
say it kindly, but firmly — that you regard 



UNIVEKSALISM NOT OF GOD. 163 

Uiiiversalisni to be what it is — an awful delu- 
sion, a destructive error, fatal to man in both 
Vv^orlds. Be induced by no consideration to 
countenance its ministry, or mingle v/ith those 
who sit in the seat of the scorner. 

But if it already has got hold of you, let 
me entreat you calmly and prayerfully to 
review the ground on which you rest, the 
evidence of your faith, and your preparation 
to meet your God. If this life is a life of pro- 
bation — if these powers and privileges are 
given us to prepare for another life — then you 
are awfully wrong. Your mistake is of a 
most fearful magnitude. Eternity is not long 
enough to enable you to correct the wrong. 
Many, very many, are reviewing this subject. 
Many of your number are escaping from the 
dreadful delusion that long has bound them. 
O, be not deceived ! Let not the enemy of 
souls secure you for his dark dominions ! Fly, 
this hour, to the Rock of Ages ! Fly from 
error to truth, from sin to holiness, from death 
to life ! ^^ If thou art wise, thou shalt be wise 
for thyself; but if thou scorn est, thou alone 
must bear it." 



164 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

CHAPTER VII. 

FRUITS OF UNIVERSALISM. 

UNIVERSALISM DOES NOT PRODUCE THE FRUIT 
THAT ATTENDED THE PREACHING OF CHRIST 
AND THE APOSTLES I ON THE CONTRARY, ITS 
MORAL RESULTS ARE SUCH AS COULD NCT 
ATTEND A SYSTEM THAT CAME FROM GOD. 

1. The Gospel alarmed men. It did so at 
Pentecost. The jailor, with trembUng and 
fear, asked, ^^ What must I do to be saved?*' 
Kings quailed as apostles ^^ reasoned of judg- 
ment to come." Not so the preaching of 
Universalism. Its great business is to allay 
fear. It comes to men recommending itself 
as a system designed to remove all occasions 
of fear. It teaches that, while some systems 
present future woe, and alarm the ungodly in 
prospect of being lost, this comes to say, '* Be 
not alarmed ; there is no eternal judgment ; 
you cannot be lost ; God will save all men : 
take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry." No 
preacher of this scheme of delusion has the 
question put to him by an aroused and startled 
conscience, ^^ What must I do to be saved V' 

2. The Gospel reformed 7nen, To this 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 165 

moral change, produced by their preaching, 
the apostles ever confidently appealed, to prove 
that their religion was from God, cind that they 
were its divinely-appointed teachers. 

Into the most corrupt cities of the world 
Paul introduced the Gospel of his Master. He 
lifted up the cross, and saw a change — an 
immediate change — in the character of those 
who received his word. He could appeal to 
them to remember what the^^ had been, and 
what they were through the Spirit of God. 
Out of that polluted class of men Vv^hose crimes 
he enumerates, the apostle vv^as able to exhibit, 
in the reformation of raBnj before a gainsay- 
ing world, the truth, that the religion of Christ 
was from heaven. It is not thus with Uni- 
versalism. I never saw a single case of reform 
under its preaching. 

You hear much of the spread of Universal- 
ism. Is its prosperity indicated by a reforma- 
tion in character and morals ? Does profane- 
ness cease at its approa^ch ? Do persons, once 
distinguished for their licentiousness, become 
patterns of purity as soon as they believe that 
all men will be saved ? Do Sabbath-breakers 
learn to hallow the Sabbath ? Do seriousness, 
solemn attention to religion, and the habitual 



166 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

and devout reading of the Bible, mark the 
diffusion of this sentiment ? Or is the oppo- 
site the fruit of Universahsm ? All can an- 
swer, as far as their observation goes : and 
but one answer will be returned. 

Who rises up and says, '^ Once I was an 
unbeliever in Universalism. Then I was pro- 
fane, and all my words w^ere mixed with blas- 
phemy. By accident I heard the doctrine of 
Universalism, and learned that, in the future 
world, God will hold them guiltless Avho take 
his name in vain, and that all blasphemies, 
none excepted, will be forgiven unto men. I 
turned at once from my evil way ; and from 
the hour that I heard and believed, I have 
feared an oath." Who says, ^^ Once I was a 
drunkard ; I was a degraded being, a burden 
to myself, a curse to my friends. But I 
embraced Universalism. I learned that the 
drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God, 
and that, though I were to die in my sin, I 
should not be excluded from the favor of God. 
When convinced of this, I dashed the poison 
from my lips. I have since been a sober 
man." I again remark, you hear much of the 
spread of Universali&m. Are its trophies and 
the fruits of its triumphs such as these ? 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 167 

3. The Gospel converted men. It did more 
than alarm the sinner and change the outward 
man. It touched and changed the heart. It 
went down to the deep foundations of the 
soul, and wrought there a thorough change. 
It attuned the heart to the service and the 
predse of God. It took off the affections from 
low and sordid things, and placed them on 
God. It brought the soul to God, that he 
might reign supreme in the heart, so long the 
stronghold of the adversary of God and man. 
It not only hushed the blasphemous ravings 
of the impious, but it caused them to bend in 
prayer. It not only made men moral ; it made 
them also devout. It not only broke in upon 
the practice of sin ; it took away the love of 
it. It converted men ; made them men of 
prayer, and caused them to be as much dis- 
tinguished for their habits of devotion, as they 
before had been for recklessness and impiety. 

In no age, since the time of the Saviour, 
has his truth been preached, when these results 
have not followed. They as much distinguish 
divine truth at this day, as they did eighteen 
centuries ago. But Universalism is not at- 
tended with them. They are not expected : 
they are not desired. 



168 UNIVERSALISM NOT Oi?' GOD. 

No converted man can dwell satisfied with 
Universalism. It cannot, therefore, convert 
the soul. Its every tendency proves it to be 
that delusion, which with ^^lies makes the 
heart of the righteous sad, and strengthens the 
hands of the wicked, that he should not return 
from his wicked way, by promising him life." 
Ezek. xiii. 22. 

It is not a system of prayer. No man 
embraces it because he has become a man of 
prayer, or a devout student of the Bible. Any 
serious man, who feels the slightest inclina- 
tion towards Universalism, will own, if he is 
honest, that this inclination began when he 
allowed himself to neglect secret prayer, and 
the duties of a Christian life. 

It does not tend to a serious and prayerful 
reading of the Bible. Many read it to find 
proof-texts for their opinions, and settle down 
into the belief that no one will finally be lost. 
What salvation is, of what the bliss of heaven 
is to consist, or how they can be happy to 
spend an eternity in employments they so 
perfectly detest in this world, few seem to 
know, or care at all. 

No minister of the sect whom I ever knew, 
maintains family prayer. I have known many 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 169 

# 

to ridicule the custom, but no one to observe 
it. I have been often in the families of the 
principal advocates of Universalism, and passed 
the night. They have been at my house. I 
found no family devotions at their dwellings ; 
they expressed no surprise at not finding 
an altar at my fireside. That Universalist 
preachers would pray in a family if asked to 
do so, is most probable. Of this, of course, I 
do not speak. But the custom of regular, 
family prayer, is not to be found in any Uni- 
versalist preacher's family with which I ever 
had any acquaintance. I knew one man who 
asked a blessing at his table ; but he did this 
only when he had company ; and was led to 
the practice by the remark of a friend, who 
told him he thought it looked strange for a 
minister to have no blessing craved at his 
table. 

I have known some clergymen and some 
laymen to leave Evangelical denominations, 
and join the Universalists. But I have ob- 
served it as a fact invariably occurring, that 
no sooner is this done, and the convert firmly 
settled in his new faith, than he abandons his 
habits of family prayer. A person of my 
acquaintance once said to me, after liis con- 



170 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOB, 

version to Universalisnij ^^ I wonder that the 
Universalist clergy do not pray in their fami- 
lies, if it Avere only to stop the mouths of the 
Orthodox." He set up family prayer for this 
purpose ; but the flame soon went out upon 
his altar. He gave up his devotions, and 
ceased to wonder that his new brethren did 
not pray, even though it might have accom- 
plished the great results anticipated in stop- 
ping the mouths of the Orthodox. Indeed, a 
tropical plant could sooner bloom in Nova 
Zembla, than a praying man continue such, 
when identified with Universalism. 

UNIVERSALISM IS DOWNWARD, AND ALWAYS DOWN- 
WARD, BOTH IN DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE. 

1. John Murray, the father of the system, 
with whom it originated in 1770, received as 
truth all the doctrines which now distinguish 
the Evangelical Christians. His hope for the 
salvation of the world, was based upon the 
idea that Christ paid the debt for men, who 
would be saved through the vicarious sufter- 
ings of the Saviour. 

2. This truth Mr. Ballou denied, when he 
rejected the divinity of Christ ; for which 
denial he was disowned by Mr. Murray. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 171 

3. Following the denial of Christ's supreme 
divinity, was the denial of future punishment. 

After the rejection of the Deity of Christ 
and the doctrine of future retribution, the 
flood-gates of error seemed to be lifted up, and 
all the doctrines of the cross were soon swept 
awciy. 

Sin was declared not to be an evil. The 
existence of hell was denied. The being of 
the devil was rejected. The immortality of 
the soul was set down as a relic of heathen- 
ism. The existence of angels was denied : 
those passages which speak of angels being 
regarded as figures of speech, intended to 
represent messengers or ministers who preach 
the Gospel. 

The Sabbath, as an appointment of God, 
was disregarded. Ministers of Universalism 
have urged men to work upon that day. Sec- 
ular employments are engaged in by officers 
in Universalist churches, on the principle that 
the Sabbath is a human institution. I have 
seen Universalist deacons at work upon the 
Sabbath. Their disregard of the ordinances 
of religion is notorious. And to illustrate 
more forcibly the downward tendency of the 
system, the present development of its fruit 



172 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

is that of Atheistic philosophy. Some of the 
most popular preachers are taking grounds 
against the ^^ Orthodox views of inspiration/' 
and of the character of God. And though 
some oppose it, these Atheistic sentiments will 
probably prevail, for ^' evil men and seducers 
will wax worse and worse." 

TERMS OF RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 

The Universalists have some churches. A 
few join them. But what is the character of 
the profession ? What are the terms of church 
membership ? What must a man put off, and 
wh?ct put on, to qualify him for such a pro- 
fession ? In the times of the apostles, men 
were required to repent, to become devout, to 
love holy men and holy things ; to abstain 
from profanity, drunkenness, licentiousness, 
and all evil. The same is now demanded of 
all who join the Christian church. It is 
nothing to say, that all who join Evangelical 
churches are not of this character. Such, a.t 
any rate, are the requisite terms of church 
membership. It Avould not be urged to the 
condemnation of Universalism, that all its 
church members were not what they ought 
to be. We have to do Vvdth its requirements ; 



LXIYERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 173 

with what it makes indispensable to church 
membershin. 

Churches are by no means general among 
the sect. Meaiy prominent Universalists deny 
them altogether. A. C. Thomas, one of their 
leading men, has challenged in public any 
Universalist to prove that the Lord's Supper 
^vas to endure after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem. Hosea Ballon, 2d, says, that ^' two thirds 
of all the societies in the denomination are 
destitute of churches.'' Few unite with them 
when formed. Some think, as did a Univer- 
salist in Salem, who said to me, that '^ if he 
should unite with the church, it would be 
carrying the joke too far." 

Many are not sufficiently satisfied with the 
system to risk so much. Some are afraid of 
that fearful declaration, ^- He that eateth and 
drinketh ' unworthily, eateth and drinketh 
dcunnation to himself" They shrink from 
doing that which may harm, if Universalisni 
should fail ; and can do them no good, if it 
be true. While another class, though they 
profess to believe in Universalisni, think that 
men ought to be changed before they go 
to the communion table. And it is by no 
means true, that the more sober or thought- 



174 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

ful join the church, or go to the table of the 
sect. 

Butj so far as quahfication and fitness are 
concernedj the whole community might be 
embraced ; no change of character is required : 
^^ He that is unjust is unjust still, and he that 
is filthy is filthy still." It is regarded as no 
more sacred to go to the communion, than to 
the public meeting ; and nothing that would 
not bar a man from hearing a sermon on Uni- 
versalism can debar him from its communion. 
There meet at a Universalist table, the Athe- 
ist, the Deist, the profane, the gambler, the 
drinker, and the adulterer. / have seen them 
all together at one table. I have broken the 
bread to them all. A professed Atheist, a' 
member of a Universalist church in Boston, 
was in the habit of attending his meeting in 
the forenoon, and Mr. Kneeland's in the after- 
noon, except on communion afternoons, when 
he remained at the Universalist church to 
commune. When I was settled over the Uni- 
versalist society in Hartford, Conn., a lady 
presented herself to me for admission to the 
church. As she was one of the most active 
women in the society, I asked why she had 
not before joined. She replied that only one 



UNITERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 175 

thing had prevented, and she did not know 
but now it would stand in her way. It was 
this : she did not believe in Jesus Christ. 

A prominent member of a Universahst soci- 
ety was noted for his profanity. One day his 
minister reproved him for the practice. His 
reply was this : '-I v/ill tell you what it is ; 
I know I swear a great deal, and in your 
pulpit you pray a great deal ; but we do not 
either of us mean anything by it.*' In a town 
in Rhode Island the Universalists have com- 
■ munion service once or twice a year. At such 
times the elements are passed to the whole 
congregation indiscriminately. Some months 
since I visited that place. A Sabbath or two 
before, at their communion, the boys and girls, 
taking the bread as it was passed to them, 
converted it into play balls, and passed their 
time in this manner. 

UNIVERSALISM TENDS TO INFIDELITY. 

It does more than simply tend to infidelity. 
It embraces men who have openly avowed 
their unbelief in parts of the Bible, and some 
who have announced that they have no con- 
fidence in the sacred book. Nor is this char2:e 
peculiar to this day. Mr. Murray called the 



176 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Universalism of Mr. Ballou infidelity, the 

worse for being disguised. Mr. Mitchel, the 
last of the Murray Universalists, said openly, 
that he regarded modern Universalism to be 
Deism. With its advocates he would hold 
no fellowship ; he denied them the Christian 
name, and promised them his untiring oppo- 
sition. He died in the house in which a 
Universalist minister boarded. He refiRsed to 
hear him pray or talk ; he refused, on* the 
ground that the man was not a Christian. 
Universalism tends to infidelity : 

1. By its principles of reasoning. The 
principles of interpretation adopted by Uni- 
versalists make the Bible a mere text-book of 
Atheism or Deism. And the same reasoning 
that expunges endless death from the Bible, 
blots out endless life ; the same that removes 
hell from the Bible, removes heaven ; and that 
which proves that Satan is a mere figure of 
speech, will disprove the existence of God, 
the Creator. Its doctrines are mere gilded 
infidelity, and its war upon the institutions of 
the Gospel conclusively shows what it hates. 
In one case, we see the editor of a Universal- 
ist paper in New England ofier to the public, 
through the columns of his paper, a reward 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 177 

of a thousand dollars to any one \vho can 
prove public prayer to be a duty ; and the 
same man might be seen refusing to dismiss 
the assembly with a benediction, but gravely 
announcing the close of the service by taking 
his hat, and walkmg out of the pulpit. In 
another case, a popular Universalist preacher 
used his influence to persuade some young 
men -to work upon the Sabbath ; presenting 
his.cha.racter as a preacher, and his example 
as a man, to break down their scruples. In 
another, vv^e have seen the same man challeng- 
ing some of his own class to prove that the 
communion is binding on any one. Men in 
good and regular standing have avowed them- 
selves to be infidels, and yet kept their rank. 
Some have explained away and rejected the 
whole Bible, save a single book, and yet been 
none the less popular or successful as ministers 
at the altar. 

In this place mention must be made of Mr. 
Kneeland, who used to preach Universalism, 
with the prospectus of the ^^ Free Inquirer" in 
his pocket ; and who, to remove the objections 
*to Universalism which the New Testament 
presents, made a translation to favor his end. 
and by the light of it ran into Atheism. An- 

Univer. -i ,-^ 



178 UNIVERSALISM KOT OF GOD. 

Other preacher was known to be, and declared 
himself to be an miidelj and yet was m good 
and regular standmg ; and while he was a 
preacher of Universalism, he negotiated with 
infidels to become the editor of their organ, 
averring that as a preacher he was sick of his 
business, and hoped that the day was not far 
distant when he should be able to obtain an 
honest living. O. A. Brownson, who for many 
years was editor of a Universalist paper, says, 
that out of twenty-five hundred subscribers, 
more than half were sceptics. Upon her visit 
to Boston, Famiy Wright numbered the prin- 
cipal Universalist ministers among her warm- 
est friends ; they accompanied her to her lec- 
tures, and remained seated with her upon the 
platform. 

Universalist meeting-houses are opened to 
infidels to lecture in : they are used for thea- 
trical purposes ; exhibitions of the circus are 
sometimes given, to help build such edifices. 
^' The Clinton Liberal Institute,'' in New- 
York, the only institution of learning the sect 
liave ever sustained, is essentially infidel. It 
was founded by Universalists, for their own 
use. The most popular Universalist ministers 
were agents to collect funds to build it, and 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 179 

yet no form of religion can ever be introduced 
into the school. Neither public prayer nor 
the reading of the Bible, as an act of devotion, 
can be performed in the school. The charter 
and the articles of compact were formed that 
infidelity might be taught under the name of 
Universalism. It was so understood by the 
ministry, and so supported. And recently a 
Universalist minister of the city of New-York 
has been appointed to be its head, though its 
character and pin:pose are unchanged, and 
ever must be. 

2. By its acts. An infidel agent at the 
West writes to a friend in Boston, as follows : 
^^ There are thousands and tens of thousands 
of sceptics and liberals throughout the west- 
ern country ; and in the absence of more 
liberal and philosophical lecturers, they em- 
ploy Universalists. For two years past, the 
liberals in this town have employed and paid 
a Universalist preacher ; but the moment I 
arrived, he was set aside. Indeed, the Uni- 
versalist clergymen here are not to be sneezed 
at. One of the oldest and most popular of the 
Universalist clergymen in Ohio, preached last 
Sabbath. I went to hear him : and, of a 
truth, he preached as good sense, reason, phi- 



180 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

losophyj liberality, as I want to hear, or expect 
to. In shortj he is a very good Kneeland 
man." Inves., July 19, 1840. 

The sympathy of infidels with Universal- 
ism ma^r be seen by the folloAving extract from 
the ^-Trumpet.'' 

^^I would allude to another town, not a 
thousand miles from Marblehead, where, pre- 
vious to the establishment of a Universalist 
society, ^orae fifty of Abner Kneeland's psfpers 
went regularly ; but since Universalism li^s 
found a footing there, those papers have 
dAvindled away almost to nought. I ask the 
reader again to make his inference." 

The inferences we make are these : first, 
that it is perfectly natural for the ^^ Trumpet" 
to take the place of Abner Kneeland's paper; 
secondly, that Universalism, to all intents and 
purposes, fully meets the wishes of infidels. 

One of the most learned defences of Uni- 
versalism that has been published, was written 
by T. S. Smith, of England. And yet, after 
laboring to prove that Universalism is the 
doctrine of the Bible, that gentleman threw 
the Bible aside, and is now an infidel. 

The Purchase Street Universalist Society 
in. Boston, called the Sixth, in 1840 ran down 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 181 

Its minister renounced Universalism. The 
hall and fixtures were transferred to the infi- 
^dels, who hold meetings in it on the Sabbath. 
And among the most active in the infidel 
meetings, may be found the men who got up 
and sustained, while it existed, the Universal- 
:st society. 

O. A. Brownson says, that he '^ was for a 
number of years associated with the Univer- 
salists as a preacher, and as the editor of a 
Dniversalist periodical. It was very common 
for the clergymen with whom he was ac- 
quainted, to speak of Universalism as a ^ step- 
ping-stone,' as ^ the best weapon to destroy 
the Orthodox, do away the clergy, and to 
prepare the way for something better.^ He 
had conversed with hundreds of professed Uni- 
versalists, who would own to him that they 
supported Universalism only ^ because it was 
the most liberal sentiment they could find, and 
because it was better than Deism to put do\\'n 
the Orthodox.' " 

UNIVERSALISM IS A MINISTRY OF EVIL. 

It does no good. It has no benevolent 
tendency, nor has it originated a single plan 
of philanthropy. It does evil, and only evil, 



182 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

removing the principles of benevolence from 
minds where they had once existed. It leads 
none to the devout and prayerful study of the 
Bible ; none to set up an altar at their hearth- 
stone. If persons having such habits embrace 
Universalismj they, in almost every case, aban- 
don their devotions at once ; and when they 
do not, it is generally the case that a religious 
wife or mother holds them to the altar. No 
sooner do men embrace this delusion, than 
they run down, surely and rapidly. Not only 
does it do no good, but it does harm. It is a 
ministry demoralizing in its tendency. Bad 
men love it ; they call it their own. 

The drunkard loves to be told that he shall 
enter the kingdom of God ; the profane, that 
God v/ill hold him guiltless : and those who 
are unfaithful in their conjugal relations, pre- 
fer that faith which bids them shorten the 
days of this life b}^ lust, that they may the 
sooner be admitted to the paradise of God. 
The practical results of Universalism are 
summed up in a line : it makes men bad. and 
keeps them so. I have known men of good 
principles, educated in the fear of God, to 
embrace Universalism ; and in six months 
after to have no scruples about working on 



tJNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 1S3 

the Sabbath ! It takes only a fe^v months 
to break down the good habits which it 
required years to form and estabhsh. I have 
knoAvn a wife and a mother go to a Univer- 
sahst meeting at first Avith great rehictance, 
then feel a strong attachment to the s^^stem, 
and then on her death-bed exclaim. --For 
God's sake, give me some more ram!"' All 
this and more have I seen as fruits from this 
system. But never any good results from it 
have I known. It is evil, only evil, and that 
continually. 

I have recently visited the field of my early 
labors as a Universalist. My heart was pained 
with what I saw. nor could my e^'es refrain 
from tears. Many Avhom I knew fifteen years 
ago as intelligent, moral, and promising men. 
are nov>^ ruined. Many then in good business, 
are noAV without character ; and some, who 
then were in public life, chosen to fill places 
of trust and confidence, are now dissipated 
and sunk to the loAvest depth of disgrace. 
Alas, what might has Universalism to break 
down the best principles, and hurl men from 
honor to disgrace ! It is great in mischief — 
mighty in evil result. •• O my soul, come not 
thou into their secret ; unto their assembly. 



184 XJNITERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

mine honor, be not thou united/'' Take 
almost any place in which Universalism has 
been preached for several years, and the death 
of the departed, and the life of the living, upon 
whom its influence has been exerted, are an 
awful comment upon its bad results. No one 
can be surprised that a popular preacher — 
who, after a ministry of seventeen years, saw 
nearly all who had settled him in their graves, 
and knew that most of them who had died 
were Atheists, Deists, or drunkards, and saw 
that the rising generation were following in 
their steps — no one can be surprised that the 
retrospect should fill him with dismay, and 
bring him nearly to the grave. 

IT IS A SOCIAL CURSE. 

Those not familiar with Universalism can- 
not realize the social evils which attend its 
ministry. It causes men to be rude, morose, 
uncivil, unkind and uncultivated. On chil- 
dren its influence is disastrous. It brings them 
up without the fear of God, and teaches them 
early to cast ofi" fear and restrain prayer. You 
may see its efi'ects upon children as they 
attend meeting ; or as they rudely on the 
Sabbath pass through the streets on their way 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 1S5 

home. It makes their youth evil and their 
manhood reckless. Its touch is like the lep- 
rosy : none meddle with it Tiathout injury. It 
harms the soul ; cheats it of all good ; inclines 
it to Avaste its probation ; to believe it has 
repented and been born again, while in the 
gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity : in- 
duces it to build upon the sand, and to make 
lies its refuge. It harms the temporal interests 
of man ; it is an enemy to his best good in 
this life. 

In a town in Maine, Evangelical truth has 
been preached for tv%"enty years in one part, 
and Universalism, for the same length of time, 
in the other. The town is divided by a small 
stream. On the one side is religion : on the 
other Universalism. Twenty years ago the 
town was a moral waste. 

A minister was sent into one part as a mis- 
sionary, and Avith the church there gathered 
he still resides. That moral waste has been re- 
deemed. A large, liberal, and devoted church 
may there be found : an academy, in a flourish- 
ing condition, with excellent schools, showing 
that the pulpit and the school-house will stand 
side by side. The whole aspect of this part 
of the town is that of thrift and prosperity. 



186 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

This may be seen in the neatness and finish 
of the houses ; the order and ciiUure of the 
farms ; the industry, civihtyj and temperance 
of the people. 

On the other side of the stream, Universal- 
ism has held uncontrolled sway for the same 
length of time. Nearly fifteen hundred souls 
are directly or indirectly under its influence, 
with the exception of about sixty or seventy 
persons, who for a few years have attended 
an Orthodox meeting. A moral waste Uni- 
versalism found it : a moral waste it is still. 
The fruit of Universalism is read in the gene- 
ral desecration of the Sabbath, and neglect 
of public worship. A people able to support 
preaching, and to fill the largest house, hold 
meetings once or twice a year, and then few 
attend. The field is theirs. Why keep up 
even the outward respect for religion ? You 
see the fruit of the system in the intemper- 
ance, the profaneness, and rudeness of the 
people ; in the general neglect of education ; 
in the insubordination and the depravity of 
childhood- — in the very appearance of the 
farms, the houses and the people. 

Thus in one town, side by side, stand truth 
und error, with the practical lessons of twenty 



UN1VERSALIS3I NOT OF GOD. 187 

years' duration upon their brow : and while 
tJie Gospel, in circumstances the most adverse, 
has caused the wilderness to bud and bring 
forth fruit, proving itself the wisdom of God 
ind the power of God unto salvation ; Univer- 
salism, in its practical workings, is all that its 
enemies have charged it with being. It is 
worse, xlnd a hundred places in New Eng- 
land can be selected as the seats of its deadly 
triumph, and trophies of its evil working ; its 
power to blast the good of this life, and bring 
a curse upon the soul as enduring as eternity. 

IT REMOVES ALL RESTRAINT. 

On the Universalist plan, punishment is no 
curse ; no exhibition of God's anger against 
sin ; no token that God is displeased with 
evil. It is no more so than the rain, the sun- 
light, or the dew. All the warnings and 
threatenings are deceptive ; for, on the ground 
of Universalism, the^^ are nothing but displays 
of God's love. As well might you call a hos- 
pital ^' a prison," and threaten the sick that 
they shall be sent there to be punished, mean- 
ing nothing by your alarming threats, but 
that they shall be healed. 

Suppose Congress should erect a vast hos- 



188 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

pital for all those who are wounded in brawls, 
or diseased from vice and crime. Let them 
endow it with great liberality, and throw open 
its doors to all the nation. Having done this, 
let them forbid rioting, drunkenness, and 
every vice ; but, at the same time, announce 
that all who disobey shall be sent at once 
into this hospital, to be punished by being 
healed. Let it be proclaimed, ^^ Poor men ! 
their sickness is punishment enough ; they 
are justly entitled to be cured, and restored to 
society." Would such an establishment be 
favorable to public purity, or public morals ? 
If not, then neither can the teachings of Uni- 
versalism, in respect to the manner of God's 
dealing with sin. 

Common observation must convince any 
man that the profane, the intemperate, the 
licentious, love this doctrine. They call it 
their own. They support it ; they defend it. 
All such feel that they are not homeless. The 
general impression is, that such men will be 
zealous defenders of the ^^ blessed doctrine." 
When I was a settled Universalist preacher, 
all such bowed to me as their spiritual guide. 
When a man died of the delirium tremens, 
was hanged, or drowned by his own act, 1 



UNIVEHSALISM NOT OF GOD. 189 

was called, as a matter of course, to attend 
the funeral. 

The class of persons usually collected to- 
gether to hear a preacher of Universalism, is 
proof of its immoral tendency. They come 
not together to be made better. They seek 
not the restraints of religion and the sanctions 
of God's word. They have thrown them off, 
and come to Universalism to be strengthened 
in their course, and encouraged in their evil 
way. 

Go where it is a novelty, and announce the 
preaching of Universalism. Into what places 
will the intelligence carry sadness ? Into the 
bar-room, the dram-shop, or the gaming-room ? 
Who will be made sad ? The Deist, the Sab- 
bath-breaker, the intemperate, the adulterer ? 
Will not these rather, with scarcely an excep- 
tion, rejoice in the intelligence, and mostly 
make up the audience ? They will be as- 
sisted, perhaps, by young men and boys ; and 
especially by those who have once been awak- 
ened, but have relapsed into sin. 

I have repeatedly had my congregation fol- 
low me, upon the Sabbath, from the bar- 
room to the place of meeting, and then back 
again to the tavern. In the stage-coach, I 



190 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

have been extremely mortified^ when defend- 
mg Universahsm, to have a profane, drinking, 
dissolute-looking person signify to me that he 
thought my argument conclusive, and that he 
agreed with me exactly. The exchange of^ 
significant glances among the passengers was 
anything but pleasant to my feelings. 

CHARACTER OF UNIVERSALIST PREACHING. 

The great end of Universalist preaching is 
to prove that all men will be saved ; to show 
that the doctrines of the Orthodox are absurd, 
and that there is no retribution in the future 
world. As long as a minister attends to this, 
all will go well. The declaration, that all 
men will be saved, must be made in every 
sermon. There is so much in the Bible, in 
reason and conscience, Avhich teaches the con- 
trary, that an argument does not retain its 
hold more than a week. It must be repeated 
again and again ; and then it does not satisfy 
the mind. 

But let a minister preach plainly and fre- 
quent.y against profanity, drunkenness, gam- 
ing, or ajiy of the alarming sins of the day, 
and he will at once be reproved. No society, 
that I ever knew, will bear such preaching. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 191 

Indeed, to have something to talk aboutj men 
will endure a sermon once in a while rebuk- 
ing their sins. But this must not be repeated 
too often. Universalists give their minister to 
understand distinctlyj that they do not come 
together for that purpose. They are united 
to put down Orthodoxy ; and as for hearing 
their preacher often rebuke and reprove them, 
they are not disposed to it. They can hear 
enough of such preaching at Orthodox meet- 
ings. 

I once preached upon righteousness and 
temperance. Some of my principal men came 
to me, and threatened to nail up their pews, 
if I meddled v/ith that subject again. Had I 
added ^^ judgment to come," I dare not anti- 
cipate what the result would have been. 

Many confirmed Universalists are afraid of 
the influence of Universalism upon their fami- 
lies. Many will not bring up their children 
under its preaching. Parents, when they send 
their children aw^ay to school, in a town in 
which there is a Universalist society, often 
direct them to attend another meeting ; and I 
am acquainted with families, which have left 
Universalist meetings on account of their chil- 
dren. They profess still to be firm believers 



193 UNIYERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

in the salvation of all ; but when asked Avhy 
they do not hear the doctrine preached, will 
reply, '^ Our children are old enough to un- 
derstand, and we prefer to have them under 
a diiferent influence :" thus presenting the 
singular fact, that they are willing to trust 
their own endless destiny on a foundation in- 
sufficient to secme the temporal welfare of 
their children. 

UNIYERSALISM IS INTENDED TO DECEIVE. 

You can get from it but an imperfect know- 
ledge of the real sentiments of the sect. You 
cannot from their papers get a true account 
of the number who leave them, nor of the 
societies which run down. The defence 
of Universalism varies according to circum 
stances. Sometimes it will be defended on 
one ground, and sometimes upon another and 
a contradictory ground. They will baptize, 
or not — in any way, or in no way, as best 
may suit. When unable to efl'ect their pur- 
pose openly, the work is done in secret. Ser- 
mons preached to Universalist congregations 
are sent out as essays, and sold as religious 
books, Avhile their real character is disguised, 
to influence public sentiment. Annuals m.ay 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 193 

be found upon some tables, supposed to be 
merely literary works, while they are full of 
Universalism. Books for children, written 
by Universalis-t preachers, and full of heresy, 
are sent out as being free from sectarianism. 
Roman Catholics are not more busy ; they 
are not more deceptive and Jesuitical. Under 
the cry of no sectarianism, they send out their 
deadly delusion. They publish garbled ex- 
tracts from commentaries, to show that the 
fathers apply their principles of interpretation ; 
and in their hymn-books you will find Watts's 
Hymns, with all that made them Watts's ex- 
punged ; thus leaving the impression that that 
revered psalmist wrote the hymns they smg. 
We see them at one time setting forth a 
fierce warfare against Sabbath schools, and 
then adopting them ; now manifesting the 
most deadly hate towards revivals, and then 
professing to enjoy the blessing which attends 
them ; in one era, the most determined foe to 
temperance, and in another attempting to lead 
the temperance host on to victory. The 
father of the system has not been dead fifty 
years ; yet not one opinion for which he con- 
tended is respected or retained. Nor does the 
sect hold one thing in common with Chris- 

Uaiver. -j o 



194 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

tians. They use the terms — God, Christ, in- 
spiration, conversion, heaven, and hell ; but 
they mean not by them what Christians mean. 
And to become a Universalist, is to deny all 
that Christianity teaches. 

UNIVERSALISM IS DESTITUTE OF BENEVO- 
LENCE. 

It has done nothing for our race. What 
benevolent plan has it originated, to amelio- 
rate the condition, or promote the interests 
of men ? What generous, noble, catholic en- 
terprise tells of its liberality and benevolence ? 
Not one. Which of the benevolent institu- 
tions, so peculiar to our age, has it ever aided ? 
Not one. What has it done for the heathen ? 
Nothing. Universalists have constantly ridi- 
culed the exertions of those who are engaged 
in sending or carrying the Gospel to the hea- 
then. Neither have they, as a sect, contri- 
buted anything towards the distribution of the 
Eible among the destitute. 

No good cause claims support from Univer- 
salism. On no one thing is its image placed, 
that can plead for it as a system of humanity. 
Nor is it any excuse to say that Universalists 
like not the measures of the benevolent socie- 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 195 

ties of the day ; for the^r have the abihty to 
strike out a path of their own. 

The doctrine of this sect deals a death- 
blow at all benevolent plans. It teaches that 
this earth is just what God intended it should 
be. Man cannot change its character, if he 
would ; and if God is well pleased with the 
world as it is, why should Universalists wish 
to change it ? 

So far from creating love and good-will to 
men, Universalism breathes nothing but bitter 
hostility and hatred to all who diifer from its 
communion. The organs of the sect have 
long been noted for their scurrility and abuse 
of all good men. The manner in which they 
speak of the benevolent operations of the day, 
the missionary and philanthropic movements 
of the age, is too familiar to require repeti- 
tion. Their blasphemous opposition and ridi- 
cule of revivals of religion speak the temper 
of their minds. So powerful is the hatred 
which Universalism inspires for Evangelical 
religion, that it has destroyed natural affec- 
tion, and made the parent like the ostrich, 
who is ^^ hardened against her young, as if 
they were not hers." I have at hand many 
proofs of this assertion. 



196 UNITERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

A lady with whom I am acquainted became 
mterested in religion, and, in opposition to the 
wish of her father, left the Universalist meet- 
ing, and attended the Orthodox. When she 
was about to make a profession of religion, 
her father forbade her doing so. He threat- 
ened to disown her, and turn her from his 
house, if she did not retract. She went for- 
ward in the path of duty, and was banished 
from her father's house on that account. She 
has a brother who is a Universalist preacher ; 
and when last I saw her, she was in exile 
from home, bearing the indignation of her 
father because she loved the Saviour. 

Another instance fell under my observation. 
A zealous Universalist resolved that all his 
children should be brought up in that faith. 
One of his children, a daughter, intelligent 
and affectionate, became a Christian. She 
had, without the knowledge of her father, at- 
tended religious meetings, and obtained hope 
in Christ. She resolved to make a public 
profession of religion. She announced her 
feelings and determination to her father, and 
wished his consent. He became enraged, and 
gave his refusal in words of profaneness and 
cursing. He forbade her proceeding any far 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD 197 

ther, threatening her with banishment from 
his house, and with his cursej which should 
fohow her to her grave. 

Her situation was a trying one. She was 
young — but sixteen years old. She had ahvays 
loved her father, and she loved him still. Her 
father's house was all the home she knew, and 
she feared his anger, and dreaded his curse. 
But all that she loved on earth was placed on 
the one hand, and her duty and her Saviour 
were placed on the other. She hesitated not 
one moment. She resolved to do her duty, 
and leave the consequences to her God. 

The sun of that Sabbath, which shone 
upon her baptism and her public profession 
of the Saviour, had not withdrawn his light 
before, true to his dreadful voav, that father 
turned his defenceless daughter from her home, 
houseless and destitute, into the street, with 
his curse ringing in her ears. With a heavy 
heart, she sought the residence of a Christian 
friend, whose roof afforded her shelter from 
the tempest — the anger of her unnatural father. 

Years passed away, and still her father 
refused to see her. He passed her in the 
street without noticing her, and her visits to 
the home of her youth were by stealth, in the 



198 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

absence of her father, to weep upon the neck 
of her mother. 

TESTIMONY OF MINISTERS WHO HAVE RENOUNCE! 
UNIVERSALISM. 

When a minister embraces their sentiments, 
the fact is announced in capitals in the Uni- 
versaHst periodicals. When one renounces 
Universalism, but little is generally said of it. 
No system has lost so many members. No 
sect, in so short a time, has lost so many ad- 
vocates. All these have left it on the gromid 
of its licentious and immoral influence. 

Very few men have been converted from 
another faith to Universalism, and begun to 
preach it, who were not struck with the loose- 
ness of conduct and principle that prevails 
among its preachers. Usually they are glad 
to return to the place from which they came 
out. Of thirty-two preachers, whose names 
are recorded as having renounced Univer- 
salism, TWENTY-FIVE LEFT THE MINISTRY OF 
ANOTHER FAITH, EMBRACED UNIVERSALISM, BE- 
CAME FAMILIAR WITH ITS DREADFUL MORAL TEN- 
DENCY, AND, APPALLED WITH THE SIGHT, HAVE 
KENOUNCED THE DOCTRINE. 

Paul Dean, of Boston, was colleague with 



UNH^ERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 199 

Mr. Murray ; and after Mr. Murra^^'s death, 
was pastor of the First Universalist Society. 
He was known for many years as one of the 
most able defenders of Universalism in this 
country. The reputation, and standing with 
the public, which the Universalist ministry 
have in Boston and its vicinity, they ovre to 
Mr. Dean. In 1S2S, Mr. Dean left the Uni. 
versalist denomination, on account of the 
immoral tendency of its doctrine. Universal- 
ists have ever since follovv-^ed him with unre- 
lenting persecution, because he left them and 
spoke openly of the evil tendency of their faith. 
Sidney Turner graduated at the Bangor 
Theological School. To the grief of his 
friends, he became a Universalist. His con- 
version was hailed vv^th rapture by the Uni- 
versalists. His learning, his piety, his hon- 
esty, his independence, a.11 were the subjects 
of high commendation. Mr. ' Turner settled 
in Brunswick, Maine, and then, for the first 
time, learned what is the practical tendency 
of Universalism. He was appalled at the sight. 
After conthming in the ministry about three 
years, he renounced the doctrine publicly, and 
is doing what he can to undo his labors in the 
ministry of death. 



200 UNIVERSAL.ISM NOT OF GOD. 

All those who renounce this doctrine, bear 
one testimony to its dreadful moral influ- 
ence. 

CONCESSIONS OF UNIVERSALISTS. 

The preachers of Universalism are not igno- 
rant of the fruits of their sytem. None are 
satisfied with its tendency. The evil fruits 
of it they confess to each other. I have it 
in my power to sustain all that I have said 
of the moral results of Universalism, by the 
testimony of men who are now in its minis- 
try. My experience is the experience of all 
who have had anything to do with that de- 
structive error. 

When I had confidence in the system, the 
confession of its advocates made me unhappy. 
They would speak of the conduct of Univer- 
salistS; and the practical tendency of Univer- 
salism, in terms that made me tremble. 

One minister, on the very da^^ of his instal- 
lation, stated to his society that he had strong 
doubts about the truth of Universalism, and 
stronger doubts about the propriety of preach- 
ing it, supposing it to be true. He was pre- 
vailed upon to wave his doubts, and be 
installed. He was installed, and preached 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 201 

Universalism to the society for the space of 
two years. 

Another preacher wrote a letter to some of 
the principal men in his society, making them 
acquainted with his feelings. He told thern 
that he was a miserable man, and that he had 
often deceived them. He had kept back a 
part of the truth. He had misapplied Scrip- 
ture. He had not given them the true mean- 
ing of the Bible, but had ^'handled the word 
of God deceitfully." The Scriptures which 
he applied to Universalism he knew did not 
teach that sentiment, and he was a most 
wretched being. His friends induced him to 
stifle his convictions, and quench the Spirit 
of God. He did so for a time, and his end 
was what might have been expected. He 
committed suicide a short time afterwards. 

A professed Universalist came to his minis- 
ter, and said, '^I have found in the Bible 
objections to Universalism. I cannot remove 
them; and I wish you to assist me." The 
difficulties were then stated ; and the minister 
confessed that there were many things in the 
Bible which he could not explain in harmony 
with Universalism. Surprised and confounded 
at such a confession from one whom he had 



203 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

supposed to be satisfied with the doctrine 
which he preached, and to be honest in 
preaching it, the gentleman asked his pastoi 
how he could preach Universalism, and quote 
the Bible to sustain it, if he was troubled 
with such doubts as hQ had expressed. The 
preacher replied, '^ I think a great many things 
can be said in favor of Universalism." The 
gentleman turned away, convinced that his 
minister was not honest in his preaching. He 
renounced his faith, and has since confessed 
Christ before men. 

Even Walter Balfour has been willing to 
publish to the world this confession : 

'^ Few if a.ny, among Universalists, have 
published more books of this kind than my- 
self." ^' So far from my publications being a 
profit to me, they have only been a bill of 
expense and much perplexity, in addition to 
all my labor in vv^iting them, so much so that 

I HAVE BEEN TEMPTED TO CURSE THE DAY I 

EVER PUBLISHED A BOOK." Hc adds, '^I am 
heart-sick of it ; and to be told that my books 

have CONTRIBUTED MUCH TO THE RAPID SPREAD 
OF UnIVERSALTSM, has no TENDENCY TO REMOVE 
THIS KIND OF SICKNESS." UuiV, UniOD, iV- 

306, 307. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 203 

A dreadful experience ! 

A popular writer upon this sy^em asserts 
that *'• publicans and harlots rejoiced to find 
their cause espoused by the Great Teacher 
sent from God. His doctrine met and satisfied 
their desires.'' He adds, ^' We learn from 

THISj WHAT CLASS OF PEOPLE IT IS, AMONG 
WHOMj AT THE PRESENT DAY. THE DOCTRINE 
OF THE IMPARTIAL SaVIOUR [UnIVERSALISm] 
SHALL FLOURISH IN ITS PURITY." NotCS, 195. 

Publicans and harlots love Universalism ; it 
meets their desires ; among them, at the pres- 
ent day, it flourishes in its purity ! Has any 
opponent of Universalism said more ? 

One of the most popular preachers of Uni- 
versalism in Massachusetts has confessed pub- 
licly that he did not believe that Universalism 
was taught in the Bible. He preached it 
because it was proved by other testimony. 
And yet this man takes a text from the Bible, 
and, when defending his faith, quotes passages 
of Scriptm-e in its support. 

Indeed, it is quite common to hear minis- 
ters, when together, debate the relevancy of 
proofs taken from the Bible, and the sophis- 
tical character of arguments offered in defence 
rt{ Universalism. 



204 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

A Universalist preacher, who stands at the 
head of the denomination, was settled seven- 
teen years in the vicinity of Boston. He had 
under his charge the largest and best Univer- 
salist society. He was very sick, and sup- 
posed to be in a consumption. He told me 
that the moral condition of his society and the 
moral results of his preaching made him sick, 
and almost carried him to his grave. He felt 
that he had done no good ; that his ministry 
had been the source of much evil, besides 
wasting the long period of time that he had 
been settled. Nearly every man who was in 
the society when he was settled, died during 
his ministry ; and nearly every one that died 

was AN ATHEIST, A DEIST, OR A DRUNKARD. Ho 

could not remain. He left his charge, and 
settled over a small congregation, resolved to 
change his style of preaching, expecting to see 
a different result. Vain hope, while Univer- 
salism is preached ! 

The editor of one of the leading Universal- 
ist papers was once asked why he did not 
elevate the character of his paper. The reply 
was characteristic : ^^ Some actors play to the 
pit ; some to the boxes. Those who play to 
the boxeS; get the most honor; those who 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 205 

play to the pit, get the most money." No 
man who opens the paper can be at a loss to 
know to what class its editor plays. 

No one will deny that some moral men are 
jn the n^inistry of Universalism. So the im- 
moral are there. There are men in good and 
regular standing who have committed offences 
which are punishable by the statutes of the 
staie. Yet are they not exposed. Some are 
retained in fellowship after the commission 
of acts which, in other denominations, would 
at once depose a man. Men guilty of bigamy 
have been declared by Universalists, in grave 
council, to have ^^ committed no offence what- 
ever against any law of morality or religion." 
One of the oldest preachers of Universalism 
now living, was for many years celebrated for 
using profane language, and selling and drink- 
ing rum. He kept so disorderly a house that 
the selectmen took away his license. He 
appealed to the town, and the action of the 
selectmen was sustained by a decided vote. 
And not far from that time, when the Univer- 
salists removed the remains of Mr. Murray to 
Mount Auburn, this gentleman made the prin- 
cipal prayer ! 

A preacher settled over one of the oldest 



206 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

societies, made to me, frequently, the most 
mournful confessions of the character of those 
who composed his society. Intemperance, 
profanity, Sabbath-breaking, licentiousness, 
abounded. And he informed me, in the pres- 
ence of witnesses, that so dissolute were the 
people, that no person thought of being mar- 
ried till one of the parties was compelled to 
be. Nearly all the marriages he celebrated, 
he said, were of this description. 

UNIVERSALISM LEADS TO SUICIDE. 

Its doctrines, when they have a practical 
influence upon the heart, must lead to self- 
destruction. They make it unnecessary and 
unwise for us to keep an existence which is 
so full of woe, and which is the only barrier 
to perfect and endless felicity. It must be 
folly and madness to continue in this life of 
disappointment and misery, when, by a self- 
inflicted death, a man may 

^^ end 

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to/' 

Eemove from men the dread of something 
after death, and few would 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 207 

'* Bear the ^vhips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumelf, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthy takes ; 
"WTien he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin." 

Bat if it be a true doctrine , as Universalism 
maintains, that there can be no ills beyond 
death; that the soul rises from the midst of 
the deepest degradation, of sins of the black- 
est dye, into infinite happiness, then self- 
destruction must be a duty. By it we ascend 
instantly from the condition of a down-trod- 
den, suffering, sinful mortal, to that of a 
glorious, exalted, immortal spirit. 

A stout-hearted Universalist became weary 
of life, and resolved to end it. He said he 
thought God did not wish to have him live 
any longer on earth, he made him so misera- 
ble ; and he purchased a quantity of laudanum 
with which to take his life. He swallowed 
the poison, but medical aid was at hand, and 
his plans were defeated. 

Soon after this he married : but his domes- 
tic relations were not happy. He resolved 
now to leave the Avorld. He purchased two 
pistols, picked the flints, and loaded them with 
care. He then sent for his minister, the Uni- 



208 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

versalist preacher in Utica, to visit hini. The 
preacher came, bringing an associate with 
him. To his minister he said, " Where shall 
I go when I die ?" ^' To heaven," was the 
reply. ^^ Have I anything to fear beyond 
death?'' ^-Nothing," was the response. ^-So 
1 believe. I am tired of this world, and mean 
to seek a better." He laid his hands npon 
his pistols, and, as he raised them, his spiritual 
guides took the alarm. '^ Stop," cried one of 
them, '^stop; there may be a hell, after all." 
The desperate man gave him a look of with- 
ering indignation, and exclaimed, ^'You do 
not believe the doctrine you preach. You 
are a deceiver. But I believe that all men 
will be happy at death. I will convince you 
that I thus believe." He raised both pistols 
to his head ; they flashed in the pan, and 
immediately he was secured. 

An intelligent and respected young man, 
during the last winter, was drawn away by 
temptation, and involved in the crime of pass- 
ing counterfeit money. He was soon arrested 
and imprisoned, and while awaiting his trial 
he committed suicide. Before this last act 
of violence, he wrote a letter of consolation to 
his mother. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 209 

In that letter he said to his mother, in sub- 
stance, ^- / have concluded that the best loay 
to get out of this scrape is to leave this world 
of trouble. It is appointed to man once to die^ 
and he may as well die when life becomes a 
burden to him.^^ He expressed an unwaver- 
ing confidence, that a fevj momeiits would 
introduce him to a world where there will be 
no trouble, 

A member of Congress from New England, 
who was killed in a duel, was in conversation 
with a pious lady in Washington the night 
before he was shot. He confessed that, with 
the religious views that the lady entertained, 
he should be deterred from fighting the duel. 
But, as a Universalist, he had nothing to fear : 
if he shot his antagonist, the Vv^orld would 
justify him ; and if he was killed, his soul 
would immediately ascend to heaven. 

Several popular preachers of Universalism 
have left the world by their own hands. 

UNIVERSALISM CONTAINS THE ELEMENTS OF ITS 
OWN DISSOLUTION. 

In Boston it is no stronger than it was 
fifteen years ago. It has by no means kept 

Univer. -j \ 



210 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

up Vvritli tiie increase of population. A quar- 
ter of a century has passed away since ultra- 
Universalism was formed. Its author is now 
reaping the harvest he has sowed. Not only 
has the society to which he has long minis- 
tered, dwindled on his hands till its dissolution 
was threatenedj but it has deliberately, and 
we believe forever, against Mr. Bailouts most 
strenuous efforts, ejected idtra-Universalism 
from its birthplace^ 

No man acquainted with Universalism will 
pretend that it is on the increase in the vicin- 
ity of Boston. In some places new societies 
are formed, but these do not keep the number 
whole. Not as many have been formed 
within six years as have suspended preaching. 
So far from keeping up with the increase of 
population, in almost all the older societies 
there are manifestations of decline. In many 
places, while other churches are enlarged to 
keep up with the increase of population, Uni- 
versalists contract their houses to the more 
limited wants of their congregations. 

The same is true of all the New England 
States, and of western New York. Univer- 
salism cannot Hve at the South ; not for want 
of material out of which to form societies, buf 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 211 

for want of a quickening principle to combine 
these elements into the forms of an efficient 
life. Irreligious men at the South wish no 
cloak ; and the idea that the Bible counte- 
nances Universalism, is too absurd for men 
who reflect to entertain it one moment. Great 
efl*orts have been made to establish Univer- 
salist societies at the South, but with little 
success. 

UNIVERSALISM IN EUROPE. 

Universalism was born in Europe. In 1788, 
Mr. Winchester preached in London with very- 
great success. Crowds attended his ministry, 
and the largest place his friends could procure 
would not accommodate all who came to hear. 
^^ He frequently visited Chatham, Birming- 
ham, Wisbeach, a,nd Fleet, a place in Lincoln- 
shire, and preached in nearly all the meeting- 
houses" of one denomination ^^in the county 
of Kent. Several dissenting preachers openly 
professed the doctrine of universal restoration ; 
and some who discountenanced it, patronized 
him, as he retained many of the notions, and 
considerable of the language, of the lower 
sects." Mod. Hist. 287. 

Before the death of Mr. Winchester there 



213 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

were nine or ten Universalist societies in 
England and Wales. 

In 1836, a delegate was sent from this coun- 
try , to see and learn more of Universalism across 
the sea. It was his design to travel, preaching 
the kingdom, and proclaiming the unsearch- 
able riches of Universalism, wherever it could 
conveniently be effected. He hoped to be 
able to lift his voice in defence of God's univer- 
sal and efficient grace, in London, in Paris, in 
St. Petersburg, and if possible, in Rome. He 
met with little attention and less favor. He 
writes, that a Unitarian clergyman invited him 
once to preach, and says, ^^He officiates in a 
small chapel at Ne wing ton, adjoining London ; 
and I accepted the invitation. The day was 
very unfavorable, and the congregation did 
not exceed thirty people ; if it had been very 
fair, I should have probably had twenty more. 
This was the only time I officiated durijig my 
residence in Europe ; it was the only oppor- 
tunity that was afforded me. The Unitarians 
in England are all Universalists, but they know 
not that name, nor any one that bears it. 
When the Unitarian clergy from the United 
States have visited England, their services 
have been in much demand, for they have 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 213 

been heard of by the reading community ; 
whereas the UniversaHsts are unknown. 
There were plenty of inquiries about Chan- 
ning ; but Ballon, Balfour, etc., were names 
unknown." 

In truth, there is no Universalism in Eu- 
rope, such as is thus called in America. The 
SYSTEM OF American Universalism has not a 
SINGLE DEFENDER IN EuROPE. The Univcr- 
salists in this country cannot secure any re- 
spect or attention from the believers in the 
salvation of all men in Europe, when their 
real sentiments are known. Prof. Tholuck, 
of Germany, was at one time claimed by the 
Universalists as one of their number. Mr. T. 
J, Sawyer, of New- York, wrote to Prof. Tho- 
luck upon the subject, and received a very 
courteous reply. Emboldened by this civility, 
Mr. Sawyer wrote again. An American di- 
vine was at the house of the professor at this 
time, and made him acquainted with the views 
of Mr. Sawyer and his associates. Prof. Tho- 
luck was astounded. He supposed the Univer- 
salists differed from the Evangelical commu- 
nity only in the duration of future punishment. 
But when he found Universalism to be distin- 
guished from infidelity only by a professed be- 



214 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

lief in the Bible , denying all its doctrines, and 
agreeing with infidelity in all but one point, 
he declined all further correspondence. 

It was announced in this country that Mrs. 
Sherwood, of England, had become a Univer- 
salist. A box, containing a copy of each of 
their principal publications, was sent to this 
lady by some American Universalists, which, 
however, much to their mortification, was re- 
turned unopened. 

When I reflect that the names of Evangeli- 
cal ministers who were contemporary with 
the founders of Universalism, are still fresh in 
the memories and aff'ections of all good men ; 
that those who have turned many to right- 
eousness, can be traced back, through all ages 
of the church, to the time of the Saviour, 
and even back to Enoch ; and then, when 1 
know that the names of the authors of Uni- 
versalism have already perished, though a 
half century has not passed since their works 
of darkness were begun — I am impressed 
w^ith the prediction of the Word of God, 
'^ The righteous shall be in everlasting remem- 
brance :" " The memory of the just is blessed ; 
but the name of the wicked shall rot." Psalm 
cxii. 6. Prov. x. 7. 



TJNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 215 

I have by no means exhausted my subject. 
But I have said enough to exhibit the dread- 
ful moral tendency of Universalism. The 
picture is an awful one ; but^ Universalists 
being judges, it is too true. I tremble, as I 
review this subject, to think that once I was 
employed in extending this baneful influence. 
I am astounded, and overwhelmed, when T 
think of that display of sovereign grace that 
snatched me from such soul-destroying work. 
The wealth of the universe would offer no 
inducement for me to return to it, or lift a 
finger to forge or fasten the chains of Satan 
upon immortal souls. To give up Univer- 
salism cost me almost my life. So fatal is 
this error, so withering its tendency ! It has 
brought down upon me an almost unparal- 
leled persecution ; but if this is the price that 
I must pay for lifting up my voice, exposing 
error, and warning my fellow-men, be it so. 
God give me grace to meet all in a becoming 
spirit ! Like Paul, I preached error. Like 
him, I have repented. Like him, in some 
humble manner, may I be fitted to preach 
the faith which once I destroyed ! 

The tree is known by its fruits ; and 
wherever Universalism is, these are its results. 



216 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 

You have seen its real moral influence ; you 
can look and see what its results really are. 
By its influence men walk not in the fear of 
God. It carries no joy to the drunkard's ^ 
home. It sets up no altar at the infidel's fire- 
side. It makes no prayerless heart pious and 
devout. It has no benevolent influence, but 
opposes every good work ; and good men do 
not need it to make them happy. When evil 
men trust it, they do so because it strengthens 
'^ the hands of the wicked, that he should not 
return from his wicked way, by promising 
him life." 

Universalism is not of God. Would it be 
Avell with the institutions of our country if 
Universalism should prevail ? Must not a sys- 
tem that holds out such views of God, of 
providence, and of eternity, be dreadfully 
licentious? Can a rational, immortal man, 
peril his safety upon a foundation that must 
fail in the day of trial ? 

An hour is at hand — and to some of us it 
may be very near — when these questions must 
be answered : an hour in which deception can 
no longer be practised ; in which earth's vani- 
ties will assume their true worth, and the fas- 
cinations of life no longer allure or charm : in 



UNIVERSAL.1SM NOT OF GOD. 217 

which all of us will •• discern betw^eeii the 
righteous and the wicked, between him that 
seivcth God and him that serveth him not." 

Aged men, are you prepared for that hour ? 
Where will your trust be, when your smi sets 
ill darkness, perhaps in blood? Ye strong 
and vigorous, where will be your strength, 
when vigor ceases, and your Maker calls? 
Ye young, ye vain, ye gay — lovers of plea- 
sure more than of God — who will hold you, 
who w^ill guide you, when your feet stumble 
upon the dark momitains ? 

O ! make not lies yom^ refuge. Under false- 
hood seek not to hide yourself. There is a 
way of peace, a highway of safety and salva- 
tion. Let me entreat you to embrace it. Be- 
fore 3^ou again lie down to slumber, resolve 
to be a Christian ; and let the earliest breeze 
of a coming m.orn waft heavenward your 
sighs of penitence, and carry up to the throne 
of light the joyful news that Satan has lost a 
victim, and Christ gained a subject, in the 
repentance and conversion of a sinner. 



218 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

UNIVERSALISM DISPROVED BY FUTURE AND 
ENDLESS PUNISHxMENT. 

UNIVERSALISM deiiies future punishment. It 
teaches that the judgment is hmited to this 
world, and that all which men need fear, is 
found in this life. It assures all who listen 
to its teaching, that the testimony of *the 
Bible, in respect to a coming judgment, is 
either an Oriental figure, or has reference to 
the destruction of Jerusalem. Every evi- 
dence of a future judgment is an argument 
against Universalism. To establish it, is to 
overthrow Universalism, and present, in vivid 
colors, the danger of trusting its teaching. 

By future judgment, I mean not only the 
act of judging the world at the last day, but 
the results of that judgment — the doom of 
the ungodly, their punishment, and their 
changeless destiny. I mean, by the term, all 
that the Bible teaches by its representation 
of future punishment — of ^^ the resurrection 
of damnation," ^^ the resurrection of the un- 
just," of ^^ casting the wicked into hell," of 
•Agoing away into everlasting punishment." 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD, 219 

THERE MUST BE A FUTURE STATE OF RE- 
, WARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 

1. It alone can answer the universal faith 
of man upon this subject. That faith is in- 
wrought into the soul by its Creator. It is 
one of those great truths that have survived 
the fall. All nations have inscribed it upon 
their altars. It is held by the most degraded, 
as well as the most enlightened of men. It 
would not be universally received if it were 
not true. To answer this universal faith, 
there must be a future retribution. 

2. Our own sense of justice demands it. 
We all feel that the guilty ought to be 
punished. We believe they will be. Yet 
we have not analyzed this feeling, or made 
ourselves familiar with the reason for this 
impression. Our sense of justice makes us 
anxious that the 'incendiary may be caught; 
the murderer be brought to a just punishment. 
We are not glad that men are evil ; but when 
they do wickedl}^, we respond to their pun- 
ishment : we rejoice in the maintenance of 
law and right. God gave us this sense of 
justice. He has it : it is the foundation of 



230 UNIVERS^VLISM NOT OF GOD. 

his throne. By it he rules as Jehovah. It is 
the right arm of his government. 

This Hfe presents no such aspect as justice 
demands. The distinctions of this world are 
not according to merit. Much in this life is 
dark, very dark. Hence many begin a course 
of error, by denying future retribution, and 
end in absolute Atheism. In this world, there 
is a strange mixture of discord and crime. 
The haughty triumph, and oppression is seated 
in authority. The groans of the orphan arise ; 
the cry of the widow and the fatherless is 
heard. The innocent suffer, because the 
wicked have arisen to power by fraud and 
violence. The good are oppressed, while pro- 
fligates and tyrants riot in wealth and abun- 
dance. Meritorious characters pine in indi- 
gence, while the impious and the vile heap 
up wealth, and tread the paths of distinction. 
Generous actions are unrewarded, crimes are 
unpunished, and the most abandoned are often 
raised to stations of dignity and power. 

Where, then, is the justice of God ? where 
is his hatred of sin ? where his love for holi- 
ness and goodness ? Can equity, can impartial 
goodness, be constituent principles in the 
Divine government, if there be no world in 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 221 

which sin is adequately punished, and virtue 
and holiness rewarded ? 

In this life God makes a distinction between 
men, as to their circumstances and privileges. 
He does not in this world treat all men alike. 
The imgodly, the reckless, the abandoned, are 
oftentimes the most favored. How, then, can 
it be proved that God is a holy God, that he 
prefers obedience to transgression, and good- 
ness to depravity ? Not by what appears in 
this life : for here, the good are oppressed, the 
righteous are afflicted, and the impious and 
the abandoned prosper. 

Suppose a sovereign should ann unce him- 
self to be just and good, and affirm that he 
desired the obedience and the happiness of all 
his subjects ; suppose he should declare that 
the only passport to his favor would be obedi- 
ence to his law and submission to his Avill ; 
and yet should load with honor, and advance 
to posts of distinction, all who rebelled against 
Inm, and neglect or afflict all who attempted 
to do his will. Who would not feel, that 
either he was not what he professed to be, or 
that another day must exhibit his justice and 
goodness, and explain his present inexplicable 
conduct? 



222 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

There must, then, be a world in which sin 
will be punished, and goodness rewarded ; in 
which the government of God shall be vindi- 
cated; in which men ^^ shall return and dis- 
cern between the righteous and the wicked ; 
between him that serveth God and him that 
serve th him not." 

3. Perfect justice cannot he attained in this 
life. 

Not by law. Those sins which lie at the 
base of all crime, cannot be reached at all by 
human legislation : the sins of the eye, of the 
heart, of a wanton imagination, God alone can 
know them. Many are above law. They 
have been giants in sin ; they have scourged 
the world to advance their personal good. 
They have rolled on, from one generation to 
another, wave after wave of misery and crime. 
Yet before Avhat tribunal can you call them, 
and bid them answer for the deeds done in 
the body? They were above law; and yet, 
if God be true, they shall, at that tribimal at 
which monarchs Avill be men, eat of the fruit 
of their ways, and be adequately punished. 
Many persons evade punishment, by lack oi 
evidence, by some flaw in the indictment, by 
the skill of an advocate, or perjury comes to 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 223 

their aid ; or they leave their country and live 
in splendor abroad, while their victims pine 
in penury at home. 

Not by Divine arrangement. God has 
made this a life of probation, not a life of pun- 
islmient. On Universalist grounds, the end 
of punishment is not answered in this life. 
On this theory, men are punished to reform 
them, not for the good of others : not to mag- 
nify the law, but to promote their own good. 
The amount of punishment which the sinnej 
deserves, and Avhich he v/ill receive, according 
to this theory, is the amount necessary to 
reform him. This, if Universalism be true, 
is rcAvarding men ^' according to their works." 
Does all discipline in this life have the pro 
posed effect ? Are all the vicious reformed ? 
By no means. Men are more frequently made 
worse by their troubles. They grow harder 
under the rod ; they die in impenitence. Then 
they are not sufficiently punished. They are 
not in this life rewarded according to their 
works. Punishment must, then, exist in the 
next world, else men will nowhere be ade- 
quately punished. 

Here the innocent suffer with, and perhaps 
suifer more, than the guilty. God has given 



224 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

men a conscience : this is to guide man, not 
to punish. It is the candle of the Lord in 
man, and may be put out. ^^ If the hght that 
is in you be darkness, how great is that dark- 
ness !'' Conscience affects the most powerful- 
ly those who are the most innocent. Men may 
blunt its edge, silence its throes, sear it, and 
quench it. It can be educated so that it shall 
only prompt to evil. Saul of Tarsus, when a 
mad persecutor, was on excellent terms with 
his conscience. The most ferocious persecu- 
tors have been the most conscientious of men. 

Not by the government of this world. When 
God has come out in wrath against the people 
of this earth, it has been in national, and not 
individual retributions. In the flood, in the 
destruction of Sodom, and of Jerusalem, all 
were involved, the old men and infants of 
days — all suffered alike, in degree and dura- 
tion. The code of this v/orld is not after 
God. Men who have the highest place in the 
world's regard, often have the lowest in God's. 
Many who have been elevated to the pinnacle 
of human fame, will sink to the lowest hell. 

4. Men cannot he known in this life. Be- 
cause we do not know them, we place upon 
them a false estimate. The beggar in rags 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 225 

will be cared for by the angels of God. The 
rich man in silks will not be neglected by devils. 
The education of life helps to deceive. The 
eye is educated not to quail ; the cheek not to 
blush ; the hand not to tremble ; the nerves 
not to move ; the brow to be fair. No true, 
no certain judgments can be rendered by man. 
The hollow heart is hid under a bland coun- 
tenance ; the sensualist under a comely form ; 
the villain under a pleasing exterior. There 
must be a world in which '^ hidden things 
shall be brought to light," and the '^secret 
things of the heart be judged." 

5. Actions of men live after the actor is 
dead. It is impossible here, for this cause, to 
reward men according to their works. The 
results of human actions cease not with the 
life of the actor : they run on after his death. 
Men often do more good or evil after death 
than while they lived. 

Howard still lives in his acts. He has been 
the author of more good since his death, than 
he accomplished during his life. No prison is 
reared, no hospital built, no institution for the 
unfor/unate of our race planned, over which the 
spirit of Howard does not preside. He lays the 
foundation, and brings forth the topstone. 

Univer, ^ ^ 

lo 



226 CNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Immortality is given to Paul, through his 
Epistles, -^ to preach the misearchable riches 
of Cliristj" till the end shall come. He 
preaches in more climes, in more languages, 
than he could reach while he lived. More 
souls every year are converted to God tlirough 
his labors since his death, than were saved by 
his instrumentality during his whole life. 

Paul's ministry was a short one. He was 
often imprisoned and scourged ; the malice of 
his enemies paralyzed his usefulness, and cut 
short his personal efforts in the cause of truth. 
But since his death, thousands have pro- 
claimed his words, and countless thousands 
have believed to the saving of the soul. 

Look at those who are appropriately named 
'^the scourges of our race." Did Cataline's 
example have no influence after his death ? 
Did all the events of which Bonaparte was 
the author, and all the causes of which he 
laid the train, cease to do injury when he 
died ? Voltaire, Bolingbroke, and Thomas 
Paine, have done more injury to our race 
since thcar death than they were capable of 
doing while they lived. They corrupt more 
youth, destro}^- more good princij^les, and ruin 
more souls, than they ever did while alive. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 227 

Where, then, can these men be rewarded 
accordmg to their works ? Not in this life ; 
for they were dead before the large part of 
the evil of which they were the authors was 
developed. 

This is strikingly illustrated in the history 
of Bolingbroke. His most pernicious books 
were not published till after his death. He 
left in his will a sum of money to defray the 
expenses of printing his works, which was 
expended according to his direction. His 
labors did not begin to exert their dreadful 
influence upon our race till their author had 
left this mortal state. How could he be 
rewarded for his deeds in this life, seeing he 
was cold in death before they really took 
eftect ? 

The good and the bad must meet in the 
coming world the harvest they sow in this. 
Byron, that man of splendid gifts, must an- 
swer for all the wrong his wasted intellect 
has done. He has employed noble powers to 
seduce the young from the way of truth and 
innocence. He has poisoned those founts at 
which millions Avill drink. If he is ever to 
eat the fruit of his doings, it must be before 
the tribunal of the Eternal, in the future world. 



228 UNITERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

Side by side, till the judgment, will run 
the ^^Age of Reason*' and the ••Daiiyman's 
Daughter :" the one peopling hell with vic- 
tims ; the other, heaven with the saved. The 
amount of good or evil done, will not be 
known till that day in which the small and 
great shall stand before God. Our deeds we 
cannot recall ; at the judgment-seat of Christ 
we must meet them. 

THERE WILL BE A FUTURE RETRIBUTION. 

Reason so teaches. Else why this Univer- 
sal faith? If nothing but deathless glory 
await men at death, why is it not written on 
some nation ? aye, upon all ? Why does God 
alloAV this universal error ? why permit men 
^^ through fear of death to be all their lifetime 
subject to bondage ?" Can he be the God of 
truth, benevolent and good, and allow, from 
the beginning, this universal and terrific error ? 
Wh)^ all the privations of life, its trials, its 
discipline, and its woes, if no purpose is to be 
answered ? if it all has no effect hereafter ? 

If there be no punishment after dePtth, if all 
the hell we h?cve to fear is in this world, how 
easy then is the path, how short, how direct 
the Avay from hell to heaven ! It is not holi- 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 229 

ness. not a long life in the service of God; 
but a mere sundering of the brittle thread of 
life, that peoples heaven with souls ! Every 
drunken brawl, bloody riot, duel, or outbreak 
of passion that ends in death, secures an occu- 
pant for mansions in the skies, more surely 
than the preaching of the Gospel, or the blood 
of martyrs for Jesus' sake. And if there be no 
punishment after death, why does not God 
make this life all that Universalism affirms the 
next will be ? Surely the good of both worlds 
is better than the woe of one. To each of us 
reason proposes these and other questions. 
Thus, most probably, Paul preached, Avhen 
'^he reasoned of judgment to come." 

So Conscience teaches. It gives a uniform 
lesson on this subject. No man feels safe. To 
every mind there is •• a certain fearful looking 
for of judgment.*' It is seen in the tendency 
of our race to dwell upon the dark side of 
every event, and to interpret ever}^ strange 
and mysterious occurrence as an omen of evil, 
or a token of Divine anger. Men know some- 
tliing of then own wickedness. They know 
they are not punished as much as they de- 
serve, and they are fearful that God is about 
to bring them to judgment. 



230 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

It keeps men from suicide : they fear that 
leap in the dark. The sleep of life, they do 
not fear ; but they dread the dreams that may 
attend that sleep. But for this, men in trouble 
would seek the repose of the grave, as the 
laborer rests from his toil, or the wayworn 
traveller, in the embraces of slumber, forgets 
the cares of the day. 

A fine illustration of this is found in the 
book of Daniel. '^ Belshazzar, the king, made 
a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and 
drank wine before the thousand." To insult 
the God of the Hebrews, he ^- commanded to 
bring the golden and silver vessels which his 
father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the 
temple which was in Jerusalem:*' vessels 
consecrated to the service of the Lord of 
hosts. The king and his companions " drank 
wine, and praised the gods of gold and of 
silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 
In the same hour came forth the fingers of 
a man's hand, and "wrote upon the plaster of 
the wall." No one knoAV the nature of the 
writing, nor could the wise men of the city 
read it. Yet, when the king saw the part of 
the hand that wrote, his countenance changed, 
and his knees smote one against another. But 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 231 

WL7 this agitation and alarm? Why not 
regard this mysterious inscription as an omen 
of good ? Why not fill up the vessels of God's 
liousOj and drink deeper ? Why not call for 
music, for the song, and the dance ? Why 
not point to the inscription, and with exulta- 
tion exclaim, ^- See, the gods have accepted 
the offerings of this night of revelry, and are 
well pleased. They have thus signified their 
pleasure. Yonder stands the sentence which 
promises long life to your king, and prosperity 
to his kingdom.'' 

Not so thought that impious monarch. He 
could not read the writing, but he well knew 
it boded no good to him or his kingdom. Con- 
science told that wicked king, that the God 
whom he had insulted was about to take ven- 
geance upon him, and call him to judgment. 
And when Daniel gave the interpretation of 
the handwriting, he did but confirm what 
conscience had already made known. 

In all men conscience awakes ^^a certain 
fearful looking for of judgment," When we 
n^ad the acts of Herod, the audacious cruelty 
of Tiberius, the character of Charles IX., 
or Richard III., we feel that such men have 
not yet closed their account. We feel con- 



232 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

fident they must answer for their crimes be- 
fore the bar of the King of kings. 

We listen to the death-bed ravings of Vol- 
taire, that high-priest of infidelity ; we witness 
the blasphemies of Thomas Paine, and his 
licentiousness, persisted in to the hour of his 
death — which blasphemies drove from his 
chamber men hardened even- as himself; we 
hear his cries and fears as he is left alone with 
himself ; and we feel that all these are pre 
monitions of the kindling of that fire that shall 
never be quenched, the gnawing of that worm 
that shall never die. Over their grave is no 
bow of promise — no light gilds their tomb. 
We wish not their portion : we desire not 
their end. 

So Revelation teaches. The doctrine of 
future retribution runs through the entire 
Scriptures, and makes the basis of all the 
instructions and sanctions of the divine word. 
By it, good men were urged to duty, and evi] 
men were held in awe. Patriarchs and pro- 
phets desired to obtain the resurrection of the 
just. Apostles labored, that they might give 
up their account with joy, and not with grief. 
And the spotless Son of God was influenced 
by considerations drawn from the future life. 



UNIVERSALJSM NOT OFGOD. 233 

when, ^'•for the joy that was set before him^^^ 
he '^ endured the cross, despising the shame," 
so that he might ^^ sit down at the right hand 
of the throne of God." 

THE TRUTH OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 

1. All the judgments of God in respect to 
this life refer to the future. The destruction 
of the old world was the beginning, and not 
the end, of their punishment. Peter says, 
^- But the heavens and the earth, which are 
now, by the same word are kept in store, 
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment 
and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter iii. 7. 
On this passage, I remark, 

(1.) Here is an acknowledged judgment 
alluded to — the drowning of the old world — 
by the Word of God. 

(2.) It points to another destruction — a de- 
struction in another world, in the day of judg- 
ment, by another agent. The first was by 
v/ater ; the last is to be by fire. 

(3.) This judgment is appointed for '^the 
perdition of ungodly men." No matter when 
they lived, whether before or after the flood. 
No matter by what means they were taken 
out of the world. All the angodly will, in 



234 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

the day of judgmentj be punished, when the 
heavens and the earth are consumed. 

(4.) Not only the heavens and the earth are 
kept in store, held in their place by the Al- 
mighty arm, till the day of judgment, but 
ungodly men are also reserved unto that day 
to be punished. They are not naw punished, 
but ^'•reserved unto the day of judgment to be 
punished." . Chap. ii. 9. And the sweeping 
away of the old world by the flood was an 
admonition to the ungodly, because that guilty 
race was still reserved unto the punishment 
of the great day. 

The same truth is read to us in the destruc- 
tion of Sodom. God turned the cities of 
Sodom and-Gomorrah into ashes, because of 
their unparalleled depravity. If Universalism 
be true, it was no judgment. It was the 
greatest blessing ever conferred upon any 
people. It wiped out in a moment all their 
crimes, cleansed them from all impurity, and 
took them from a world of woe, and intro- 
duced them into perfect bliss. Enoch was 
translated, becaaise he pleased God. The 
guilty Sodomites, on the theory of Universal- 
ism, shared the same distinguished favor for 
an opposite reason. How can we explain 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 235 

the conduct of Abraham — his earnest, impas- 
sioned, long-continued efitreaty that Sodom 
might be spared — if he behoved that the threat- 
ened doom would convey them into glory ? 

The Saviour makes an application of this 
judgment to the eternal world. ^' Verily I 
say unto you, It shall he more tolerable for 
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, 
than for that city." Mark vi. 11. In this 
passage, Jesus announces that the doom of 
Sodom is not yet complete. For in the day 
of judgment, ^^it shall be more tolerable," not 
appear to be. In what sense is this true, if 
Sodom and Gomorrah received all their pun- 
ishment thousands of years before this predic- 
tion was uttered ? 

God ^^ made them an ensample to those who 
after should live ungodly." 3 Peter ii. 6. 
Then all the ungodly will be punished, as 
were the people of Sodom. But this is not 
true in this life. No other city was ever 
destroyed by fire and brimstone out of heaven. 
No other people were thus removed from earth. 
And no ungodly man fears that, if he do not 
repent, fire and brimstone from God out of 
heaven will consume him. 

But Jude teaches us that, in common with 



236 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

the angels who kept not theh first estate, but 
who are ^^ reserved A everlasting chains, under 
darkness, unto the judgment of the great day," 
^^ Sodom and Gomorrah'^ ^^ are set forth for an 
example^ suffering the vengeance of eternal 
fire?'' Jude 6, 7. Their fate after death, tlieir 
present suffering, and ^^ the judgment of the 
great day" that awaits them, make them an 
example. They are a warning to the ungodly ; 
for all who live and die in sin must share their 
condemnation. 

2. The conduct of holy men proves future 
punishment. Abraham sought a city whose 
builder was God. Moses -^had respect to a 
recompense of reward," when he chose to 
suffer affliction with the people of God. Those 
worthies who endured persecutions and afflic- 
tion for righteousness' sake ; who had trials of 
cruel mockings, were tortured, were stoned, 
were sawn asunder, and died an ignominious 
death, did. so to escape the second death, and 
'^ obtain a better resurrection." The apostles 
in their tribulations rejoiced ^^ that their names 
were written in heaven." Their fear was, 
^^ lest after they had warned others they might 
be castaways." They labored that they, in 
the day of judgment. ^^ might be accepted of 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 237 

God; and not be found naked." They toiled 
that '^ their account might not bX last be given 
up with grief." 

3. Tlie truth of future punishment co?i- 
firmed. Reason unites with Revelation ; for 
Paul ^^ reasoned of judgment to come." Rev- 
elation sustains the dictates of conscience 
when it speaks of that ^^ fearful looking for of 
judgment," which to sinners '^ is a token of 
perdition." While the basis of the instruction 
and entreaty of the Bible is the truth, that 
all must stand before the judgment-seat of 
Christ. 

When God threatened Adam with death in 
the day of transgression, he understood all 
that his Maker expressed by that word. When 
Moses recorded this penalty, many years after 
it was announced, he used a word which, to 
his nation, conveyed the Divine meaning. To 
die included all that the Jews expressed by 
that term when Moses wrote. And we all 
know that it included both the misery of the 
present and the future life — of the body and 
of the soul. By the mouth of his prophet, 
God thus speaks : '^ As I live, saith the Lord 
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the 
Tracked ; but that the wicked turn from his 



238 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

way, and live : turn ye, turn ye, from youi 
evil Avays ; for why Avill ye die, O house of 
Israel V 

Here the wicked are assured that, though 
God has no pleasure in their death, yet if they 
do not turn, they will die. 

There are but three deaths — ^temporal, spir- 
itual, and eternal. One of these must be the 
threatened penalty of God's law. Is it natu- 
ral death? Will the wicked escape this, if 
they forsake their wicked Avay ? By no means : 
all must die, the evil and the good ; those who 
fear God, and those who rebel against him. 
Natural death cannot be what men are threat- 
ened with if they do not turn, as turning from 
their wicked way Avould not save them from 
it. It cannot be spiritual death; for the 
wicked were already sphitually dead, else 
why are they called upon to turn ? That they 
were spiritually dead, was their crime ; for 
this they were to be punished. The Almighty 
promises the wicked man that, if ho will tm'n 
from his wickedness, ^* he shall not die ;" but 
this cannot be true of either natural or spiritual 
death ; for all die the death of the body : and 
if a man sin but in one point he is spiritually 
dead. -Only eternal death could have been 



UNlVERSAi^ISM NOT OF GOD. 239 

threatened — the death of the soul m the world 
of woe, after the death of the body. Tem- 
poral death is the death of the body ; eternal 
death is the death of the soul. 

A belief in future punishment was the com- 
mon faith of the generation to which the Sa- 
viour preached. If he was a believer in this 
doctrine, he would confirm them in their faith 
as to future retribution. All the instruction 
in relation to the future, which the Son of God 
gave, must have been intended to sanction 
their views, and through them to teach all 
nations to fly ^-from the wrath to come." 
Christ did not attempt to prove these doc- 
trines, any more than he did the truth of 
God's existence and perfections. The people 
to whom he spoke already believed them. 
He simply reminded them of these great and 
solemn doctrines, and urged them to repent- 
ance in view of the solemn sanctions of eter- 
nity. We find no labored argument in the 
Bible to prove any of the leading doctrines of 
the Gospel. Revelation is based upon them, 
and it would not have been given had not 
these doctrines been true. 



240 UNIVERSALIS3I NOff OF GOD. 

THE PURPOSES OF FUTURE PUNISHIVIENT. 

1. It will vindicate the character and the gov- 
eminent of God. '- In that day when I make 
up my jewels," saith the Lord, ''shall ye re- 
tm'n and discern between the righteous and 
the wicked ; between him that serveth God, 
and him that serveth him not." Mai. iii. 
17, 18. 

2. It loill 'purify the church. ''Judgment 
must begin at the house of God : and if it first 
begin at us, what shall the end be of them 
that obey not the Gospel of God ? And if the 
righteous scarcely be saved, v/here shall the 
ungodly and the sinner appear ?" 1 Peter iv. 
17, 18. 

3. It vjill reward the good. " They shall 
be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day 
when I make up ni}^ jewels ; and I will spare 
them, as a man spareth his own son that serv- 
eth him." Mai. iii. 17. " There is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me in . 
that day ; and not to me only, but unto all 
them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 
iv. 8. " For we must all appear before the 
judgment-seat of Christ : that every one may 



UNIVERSALIS^! NOT OF GOD. 241 

receive the things done in his body, according 
to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the 
Lord, we persuade men." 2 Cor. v. 10, 11. 

4. It ivill punish the wicked. In that day 
He will say, •• Depart from me, ye workers 
of iniquity." •• Depart from me, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
and his angels.*' '• But the heavens and the 
earth, v/hich are now, by the same word are 
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the 
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly 
men." 2 Peter iii. 7. 

ITS RESULTS. 

1. All will he judged. Angels who kept 
not their first estate — devils who now beheve 
and tremxble. The dead, small and great — on 
the earth, and in the sea. 

2. Judgment ivill be final. All things will 
be judged — both the open and the secret. 
There will be no appeal ; for there is no 
higher tribunal. All will be perfect — the 
law, the evidence, the Judge, the verdict, the 
sentence. 

3. The punishment will be endless. So the 
term everlasting, as applied to punishment, 

U.iver. 15 



242 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

indicates. It does so when applied to God- 
to heaven, to the soul. It means strict eter- 
nityj or no term can express it. Matthew 
XXV. 46. 

It was the common doctrine of Christ. As 
often as he spake of punishmentj he indicated 
its duration. He did this in the first sermon 
that fell from his lips. He speaks of '' ever- 
lasting punishment/'' of '^ eternal damnation/' 
of ''fire that shall never be quenched." He 
shuts the rich man out of all hope of escape 
from hell J by the assurance that escape is im- 
possible, and the mitigation of his sorrows 
not to be found. 

The same terms are used by the apostles 
for the same purpose : '' everlasting destruc- 
tion from the presence of the Lord/' is one 
form ; '' suffering the vengeance of eternal 
fire/' is another ; '' the smoke of their tor- 
ment goeth up forever and ever, and they 
shall be tormented day and night forever and 
ever," is yet another. 

Certain characters are excluded forever : 
'^ I never knew you;" ^' they shall never 
see life /"' '' they who commit such things 
shall not inherit the kingdom of God ;" 
'' without holiness, no man shall see the 



UNlYERSALTSxM NOT OF GOD. 243 

Lord." Such characters die. and die un- 
changed. They can never see God in peace. 

Death changes no man's moral character. 
It is compared to sleep. Its duration changes 
no man. He must awake to the results of 
his conduct, sleep he ever so long. There 
was no moral change in Lazarus, or the 
widow's son. So reads the Bible : ^^ Whatso- 
ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 

All '^ that sleep in the dust of the earth 
shall aw^ake, some to everlasting life, and 
some to shame and everlasting contempt." 
^^ Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming 
in the Avhich all that are in their graves shall 
hear his voice, and shall come forth, they 
that have done good unto the resurrection 
of life, and they that have done evil unto 
the resurrection of damnation." He that is 
unjust in the resurrection, shall be so still. 
He that is filthy shall be filthy still. A pirate 
may sleep long ; he may be unconscious for 
years ; he may be sent round the globe ; yet 
wake him up, when or where you may, he is 
a pirate still : murder is in his heart ; his right 
hand is ready for deeds of blood. 

The Bible gives no promise of a probation 
beyond this life. To fallen angels it gives 



244 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

no hope. Their state would excite as much 
compassion as that of fallen men. From the 
person whom we know to be in hell, Christ 
shut out all hope. In the night of death, no 
man can Avork. The giving up of the medi- 
atorial kingdom by the Son of God, leaves 
his enemies beneath his feet, crushed by his 
might, with no hope of escape. Death closes 
all. The punishment is eternal. 

To death and to judgment all are tending. 
In the dark, damp grave, all must lie. Deep 
is the river of death, but all must pass over it. 
There is no discharge in this war. No coun- 
tenance is so radiant with health and beauty, 
as to escape the grasp of death. The strongest 
pulsations will cease, and the most elastic 
step will falter, when death approaches. He 
will touch our frames with his icy finger, and 
all will be cold as marble. 

Solemn is it to think of the judgment that 
follows death ; to look forward to that hour 
in which we all shall stand before the judg- 
ment-seat of Christ — stand in the presence of 
our Judge, to whom all things are open and 
^ manifest, who cannot err, and from whom no 
one can escape. 

To prepare for that hour is life giv^en, with 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 245 

all its mercies. That Avarning Avord is ^vrit- 
ten upon all things. Life, death, heaven, hell, 
all warn you to prepare to meet your God. 
To defer, increases your danger. You may 
cavil, yet the truth stands ; you may mock, 
yet you do not wipe it out from the Bible. 
You may attempt to wrest the Bible, but you 
simply deepen your guilt. The scoffer at the 
judgment may feel the pangs of the second 
death, and know what it is to be banished to 
that world in which hope never comes. He 
may know what this meaneth, ^' It is a fear- 
ful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
God.'' 

I am awed by the consideration of this mo- 
mentous subject. I tremble while I write, 
and am assured that for me there is no safety 
but at the foot of the cross, where, in accents 
of humble faith and hope, I can say, 

" Rock of Ages, cleft for me. 
Let me liide myself in thee.'* 

Nor is there safety in any other refuge. O, 
ye dying sons of men ! will you refuse this; 
refuge, and seek one that will leave you shel- 
terless in the day of tempest and storm ? Will 
you deride this theme ? Will you mock at 



246 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

coming danger ? Must the awful realities of 
the day of judgment burst upon you, before 
you Avill open your eyes to impending ruin ? 
Shall the character and the fate of the scoffer 
be yours ? Will you be deceived by the siren 
song of peace ? Shall those, whose business 
it is to make merchandise of souls, lead you 
down to death? When the Eternal God 
pleads with you not to die ; when this whole 
life is given you to prepare to meet your 
God ; when the Holy Spirit, the voice of 
conscience, and the Word of God, warn you 
to flee from the wrath to come — will you al- 
low the enemy of souls, through the delusion 
of Universalism, to carry > ou captive to per- 
dition ? ^^ If sinners entice thee, consent thou 
not." O delay not that preparation, without 
which you cannot stand in the judgment ! 
Believe God, and be saved forever. And 
when we, with an assembled universe, shall 
stand before the bar of God, may om' names 
be found written in the Lamb's book of life ! 
And when the full chorus shall go up from 
the redeemed, may your voice and mine blend 
with that mighty, that blood-washed throng, 
in their ascriptions of praise to the Lamb of 
Calvary, the Redeemer and the Judge of men ! 



UNI7ERSALISH NOT OF GOD. 247 



CHAPTER IX. 

^ ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS IN RELATION TO 
UNIVERSALISTS AND UNIVERSALISM. 

Universalism is in the mid^t of you. and 
you must meet it. Your sons and your daugh- 
ters are exposed to its seductions^ and 3^ou 
must protect them. What, then, is your duty 
in respect to this delusion ? Will ^rou indulge 
me in a few suggestions on this subject ? I 
offer them from the conviction that, if heeded, 
they will guide you in the path of duty. 

1. It is impossible to write the history of 
Universalism without saying much that seems 
to be severe or unkind. Much must remain 
unwritten ; for to call all things by their right 
names, would be to use terms that make a 
book unsuited for miscellaneous reading. 
Much cannot be told. And when we realize 
the fact that such a system exists among us, 
is called Christianity, and claims the respect 
of intelligent minds, it is calculated to excite 
the most painful emotions. When we know 
its expanding power; the endless ruin that 
attends its reception ; the fact that among the 
mass of mind with which religion has to do, 



248 UNIVERSALIS^ NOT OF GOD. 

this pernicious error is to impede the reception 
of truth— when we look upon its blighting 
curses ; its desolating path ; its power over the 
young ; its appeals to manlinesSj independence^ 
and love of sinful pursuits, so captivating to a 
young mind ; its altars reared in the midst of 
us, as offensive to God, and as ruinous to man, 
as heathen altars ; we may well weep, as we 
enter our closets to pray that we and ours 
may not be led into temptation. 

Already may we see the deadl}^ harvest cul- 
tivated by this ministry of death. It joins 
hands with evil men, and like the hordes of 
barbarians around an Oriental city, it is ready 
to join any party that will sack the city and 
share the plunder. In the insubordination of 
the age you may detect the spiiit of Univer- 
salism. In the more recent assaults upon the 
church and the ministry, you find the minis- 
ters of Universalism among the leaders. They 
are the authors and supporters of that sympa- 
thy with crime and with the criminal, w^hich 
marks mnch of the misnamed philanthropy 
of this day. 

Much domestic, social and national evil, has 
already sprung from Universalism. The har- 
vest is waving around us, from seed sown in 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 249 

Other days. Bad men are shouting in view 
of the harvest home, and more is to come. 
We may not see it gathered in, but our chil- 
dren will. 

No policy is more fatal than that which 
allows this error to settle in a community, and 
send out its deadly leaven, undisturbed. Some 
suppose that it will die out. if not opposed. 
As much so as the plague, and no more. It 
may disband its society ; it may have no pub- 
lic altar ; but most of those affected by it will 
have contracted a sickness unto death ; and 
disbanding, it will carry the elements of death 
into many families. It must be met — met 
promptly ; and though for a time you may 
enrage its advocates, you will save many that 
otherwise would be its victims. 

2. Equally unwise, I believe, save in very 
extraordinary circumstances, is the custom of 
open debate with the preachers of Universal- 
ism. A minister of Christ has to do with an 
unscrupulous advocate of error, who will not 
be kept back from saying or doing what he 
may please, from any notion of delicacy or 
self-respect. He has nothing to lose, and 
everything to gain, by scurrility. A debate 
gives such men an importance ; and before the 



350 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

community, it is admitted that Universalism 
Qiiay be true. But the system should be un- 
derstood, and faithfully exposed ; its evil ten- 
dency pointed out ; its sophistry and deception 
laid bare. Books upon the subject should be 
circulated, and all means used to save some. 
The young and inexperienced will be warned ; 
and those in Christian congregations, not con- 
firmed in the truth, may be saved from that 
way which leads to death. 

Nor should this work be delayed till the 
error is organized. I have already said, that 
nearly as much Universalism may be found 
where it is not organized, as where it is. 
Strike this delusion, and you strike the com- 
mon error of the human heart. Our fathers 
understood this subject. They regarded Uni- 
versalism, then not so bold and impious as 
now, to be the ministry of death. As such 
they grappled with it at once. So completely, 
so thoroughly was the work done ; so per- 
fectly was the old system annihilated, that the 
friends of that system admitted the defeat to 
be entire, by forsaking it at once and forever. 
Not one doctrine, one explanation, remains. 
And when Universalists of this day refer to 
these early advocates of Universalism, they 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 251 

speak of them as men who had not yet cast 
away the grave-clothes of superstition. 

I know that Universalists challenge opposi- 
tion, and profess to be pleased with controversy 
upon this subject. But they dread an expo- 
sure of their system. Already it has been 
shaken in its strongest holds. Men are Uni- 
versalists for want of investigation and reflec- 
tion. 

3. Have nothing to do with the system by 
way of countenance. Call it by its right 
name. Sit not in its assembly. Join not 
with its friends in the erection of houses of 
v/orship in which their faith is to be preached. 
'^ What fellowship hath Christ with Belial?" 
Enter a Universalist meeting, and you receive 
the preacher. You do, in fact, bid him God 
speed, and become a partaker of his evil deeds. 
You owe it to yourselves, to your race, and to 
the truth, that you keep from every place in 
which Universalism is advocated. Avoid it 
as the seat of the scornful, as the way that 
leads to hell. Say everywhere, and at all 
times, that it is a deadly error, and that upon 
you shall never rest the guilt of spreading this 
delusion ; that in no way will you be acces- 
sory to its work of evil. 



252 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

4. Know what Universalism is. You are 
in danger from this source. Many intelligent 
persons are not aware that modern Universal- 
ism, in any respect, differs from the system of 
Murray. And it is one of the great efforts of 
Universalist teachers to deceive in this respect. 
They will talk of ^^ father Murray" and ^- father 
Mitchel," as though they held the opinions 
of those men. Humanitarians as they are, 
they will talk of the divinity of the Saviour. 
Revilers of experimental religion, they will 
talk about the new birth. And the terms 
faith^ repentance^ and holiness^ they employ 
to teach the deadliest errors. The same men 
who talk about the love of God and of Christ, 
will be found to bear the njost deadly hate to 
Jesus and his cause. Theirs is a conversion 
which changes no man's character ; it is a 
regeneration which leaves the heart unre- 
newed : which shows yom a converted man 
who casts off fear and restrains pra^^er ; which 
breaks up devout habits where they had been 
formed : and Vv^iich leads to no reform in any 
of the pa.ssions or vices of men. It presents a 
profession of religion which a man may put 
on without restraining one bad passion, or 
renouncing one evil habit. 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 253 

5. Recognize the ministry of Universalism 
only as the ministry of Satan. This is the 
Bible name for preachers of error. 2 Cor. 
xi. 15. 

Universalist preachers desire nothing so 
muchj as to be recognized as Christian min- 
isters by the religious community. At fune- 
rals, arrangements are sometimes made to 
oblige an Orthodox minister to meet a Uni- 
versalist. Of all occasions in the world on 
which to associate with an advocate of Uni- 
versalism, a funeral would seem to be the very 
last. Standing in the presence of God, upon 
the very threshold of eternityj on a business 
that the living will lay to heart, if they will 
lay anything there — it is no place to counte- 
nance an error which may be stained with the 
blood of the soul that has just left the very 
body about to be consigned to the grave. I 
beseech my brethren in the ministry, not 
thus to sanction the claims of men who are 
doing such infinite mischief to the souls of 
their fellow-creatures. 

Do you ask. What is to be done in cases in 
which families are divided ? in cases in which 
you do not wish to wound the feelings of 
friends ? I reply, The path of duty is a plain 



254 UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 

one. Say fra:ikly, that Universalism is not 
Christianity, that its advocates are not Chris- 
tian ministers, and that those who are buried 
by them have not a Christian burial. If any 
prefer to employ such men, they have a right' 
to do so ; but you cannot sanction the pro- 
ceeding. Refuse to do so from principle in 
one instance, and you will cease to be an- 
noyed. If it be unpleasant to wound the feel- 
ings of those you love, it ought to be far more 
unpleasant to ruin then' souls. 

6. Beware of Universalist books in disguise 
Among the means employed at the present 
day to spread Universalism, the circulation of 
books and other publications, v/ith the assur- 
ance that they contain nothing that is secta- 
rian, is conspicuous. 

^^ The Lowell Offering'' was projected by a 
Universalist minister, and conducted by him 
and his Universalist associates. It has always 
been under a Universalist influence, and with 
the exception of not openly advocating the 
doctrine, it is a Universalist periodical. Yet 
it bears this title : '^ Lowell Offering, written 
by Females actively employed in the Mills. 
Everything of a sectarian character is rigidly 
excluded,'''' 



UNIVERSALISM NOT OF GOD. 255 

Small story-books are offered to our chil- 
dreiij and recommended to the public atten- 
tion, though written by Universalist women. 
Books are sent out, that first were preached to 
Uni\^ersalist congregations, and published in 
Universalist papers, and yet hold forth the 
assurance that they contain nothing sectarian, 
though filled with Universalism. Such works 
may be found in common school libraries, and 
sent out under the approval, often, of religious 
men. Books of poetry and fiction are also 
doing the same evil work. 

7. From Romanism this country has much 
to fear ; but as much, I believe, from Univer- 
salism. I would not silence the alarm that 
has arisen in the hearts of good men in respect 
to the designs of the Man of Sin. But while 
Christians fix their attention upon these great 
evils, I would also have them become better 
acquainted with this fatal error which stands 
at their doors, leading souls captive, and boast- 
ing aloud of its triumphs. I Vv^ould have them 
know its deadly hate to all that is good ; its 
paralyzing effect ; the effort, like a death- 
struggle, requisite to shake it off; its debasing 
tendency; its endeavors to extend itself; its 
power to deceive ; the garb of light in which 



266 UNIVERSALIS^ NOT OF GOD. 

at times it can appear ; its might in evil acts^ 
blasting all that is goodj and leaving the soul 
fit only to be bm*ned. It has little in common 
with Protestantism. Publicly it asserts, that 
it would sooner elevate Romanist, than Ortho- 
dox Christians. It can have little sympathy 
with the Reformation, whose great doctrine, 
'^Justification by faith,", has no place in its 
creed. 

Though it have thousands of advocates, 
they are not to be relied upon as allies in the 
great battle. Let the struggle come on be- 
tween Romanism and truth, and the sect now 
professing so much liberality may be the first 
to say, '^What will ye give me, and I will 
betray him unto you ?" Let Christians realize 
the existence, and the stupendous and fatal 
character of this evil, in the way of the world's 
conversion : this ^- enemy of all righteousness, 
perverting the right way of the Lord;" and 
know that, should it triumph, it will turn even 
happy New England, the moral garden of the 
world, mto an arid waste, and make it like 
Sodom, the land cursed and blighted by the 
Almighty. . And as Christians gaze at the blaz- 
ing meteor that flashes athwart the heavens, 
let them not be unmindful of the venomous 



